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THE  SALMAGUNDI  CLUB 

A  History 


J.  Scott  Hartley  Joseph  Hartley 

W.  H.  Shelton 
F.  S.  Church  Will  H.  Low 


THE 
SALMAGUNDI 
CLUB 

Being  a  History  of  its  Beginning 
as  a  Sketch  Class,  its  Public 
Service  as  the  Black  and  White 
Society,  and  its  Career  as  a  Club 
from  MDCCCLXXI  to  MCMXVIII 

with  illustrations 


BY  WILLIAM  HENRY  SHELTON 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK  -  MCMXVIII 
HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 
THE  RIVERSIDE  PRESS  CAMBRIDGE 


COPYRIGHT  1918 
BY  HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

All  rights  reserved 


FOREWORD 

The  Salmagundi  Club,  after  hard  upon  fifty  years  of 
moving  from  one  house  to  another,  like  a  poor  tenant,  and 
being  but  a  tenant  at  will,  owning  only  movable  property, 
and  little  of  that,  and  having  no  claim  upon  a  square  foot 
of  the  earth  on  which  it  walked  —  having  been  at  the 
mercy  of  eleven  landlords,  and  at  one  period  (for  want  of 
a  landlord)  passing  like  only  the  shadow  of  a  club, 
among  the  studios  and  homes  of  its  members  —  has  itself 
become  a  landlord  and  a  landowner. 

During  the  aforesaid  somewhat  vagrant  period,  uncon- 
scious of  its  destiny,  the  club  was  drifting  from  one 
chance  mooring  to  another,  always  within  a  certain  lim- 
ited area  of  the  ocean  of  the  city's  traffic;  never  below 
Prince  Street,  where  the  studios  began,  or  above  Twenty- 
second  Street,  and  lying  at  anchor  for  twenty  years  just 
of  the  pleasant  shore  of  Greenwich  village,  but  always 
circling  and  circling  about  Washington  Square,  not  so 
much  like  a  rudderless  ship  as  like  a  wise  old  bird  pre- 
paring to  alight,  and  alighting  at  last  in  a  nest  of  its 
own. 

Forty-seven  Fifth  Avenue,  with  its  additions  and  im- 
provements, its  ^furnishings  {which  came  in  generous 
donations  like  the  fund  that  made  its  possession  possible), 
its  comforts,  and  its  precious  atmosphere,  transferred 


undisturbed  and  intact,  is  that  nest.  The  new  house 
is  fairly  set  between  comely  and  respectable  neighbor 
houses  and  opposite  to  the  Old  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  which  rises  from  its  ample  glebe  against  the  eve- 
ning shy  behind  its  massive  bell-tower  borrowed  from 
Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  and  doubtless  built  seventy- 
four  years  ago  to  give  joy  to  the  members  of  an  artists* 
club  that  in  the  fullness  of  time  was  destined  to  sit  at  its 
feet  and  dwell  in  its  shadow. 

Finding  itself  thus  comfortably  established,  domiciled^ 
situated,  and  settled  down  in  some  degree  of  affluence,  the 
mind  of  the  club  naturally  reverts  to  its  early  days  and 
demands  the  story  of  its  beginning,  its  vicissitudes,  strug- 
gles, trials,  and  successes,  which  will  be  found  in  the  fol- 
lowing pages. 

WILLIAM  HENRY  SHELTON 

Forty-Seven  Fifth  Avenue 
March  First,  1918 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Foreword  v 

I.  The  Birth  of  the  Club      ....  1 
II.  The  Revival  of  the  Club  .     .     .  .14 

III.  The  Exhibition  Period       ....  31 

IV.  The  Salmagundi  becomes  a  Real  Club  49 
V.  Fourteen  West  Twelfth  Street    .     .  74 

VI.  The  Library   95 

VII.  Some  Social  Occasions   115 

Appendix   133 

Index   143 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Salmagundi  Club  Book-Plate  .     .  Opposite  first  half-title 

Portraits  of  Early  Members  —  J.  Scott  Hartley, 
Joseph  Hartley,  W.  H.  Shelton,  F.  S.  Church, 
Will  H.  Low  Frontispiece 

Solitude,  two  sketches  by  Will  H.  Low      ....  2 

Boxing  in  Hartley's  Studio,  from  a  drawing  by  Will 
H.  Low  6 

Solitude,  by  Alfred  E.  Emslie,  and  Abandoned,  by 
W.  H.  Shelton  12 

"The  Longshoreman's  Morning,"  by  F.  S.  Church  .  13 

Portraits  of  Early  Members  —  George  Inness, 
Jr.,  Carl  Hirschberg,  C.  Y.  Turner,  G.  W.  May- 
nard,  A.  C.  Morgan  20 

Something  Fresh,  by  Howard  Pyle  26 

From  sketch  in  possession  of  Mr.  Alexander  Morgan 

Finis,  by  A.  C.  Morgan  30 

Club  Members,  1879,  by  H.  P.  Share     ....  34 
Drawn  for  u  Young  Artist  Idfe  in  New  York"  by  William 
H.  Bishop,  in  Scribner's  Monthly 

Sarony's  Invitation  to  George  Inness     ...  42 
Invitation  to  Reception,  November  30,  1883  .      .  48 
Drawn  by  Frank  Russell  Green 

Invitation  to  House  Warming,  at  49  West  22nd 

Street  60 

Drawn  by  Frank  Russell  Green 

House  Front,  14  West  l%th  Street,  by  Charles  S.  Chap- 
man  74 


t  x  3 


Billiard-Room,  14  West  12th  Street,  by  Charles  S.  Chap- 
man   76 

Office,  14  West  12th  Street,  by  Charles  S.  Chapman    .  78 

Gallery,  14  West  12ih  Street,  by  Charles  S.  Chapman  80 

Glimpse  into  Grill-Room  from  Billiard-Room, 

14  West  12th  Street,  by  Charles  S.  Chapman  ...  82 

Hall,  14  West  12th  Street,  by  Charles  S.  Chapman  .      .  86 

Grill-Room,  14  West  12th  Street,  by  Charles  S.  Chap- 
man   90 

Stairway,  14  West  12th  Street,  by  Charles  S.  Chapman  94 

J.  Sanford  Saltus,  in  Court  Costume  of  Edward 

VII,  by  George  Reevs   .    98 

Library  Mugs   100 

The  Abbey  Mug                                                 .  104 

Reproduction  of  Title-Page  of  "Costumes  of  the 

Nineteenth  Century"   108 

Library,  14  West  12th  Street,  by  Charles  S.  Chapman  112 

Halloween  Dinner,  14  West  12th  Street,  by  Charles 

S.  Chapman   116 

Parlor,  14  West  12th  Street,  by  Charles  S.  Chapman  .  120 

Card-Room,  14  West  12th  Street,  by  Charles  S.  Chap- 
man   124 

Stairway,  14  West  12th  Street,  by  Howard  Giles  .      .  128 

House  Front,  47  Fifth  Avenue,  from  a  photograph      .  135 


THE  SALMAGUNDI  CLUB 

A  History 


A  TOAST  FOR  THE  SALMAGUNDI  CLUB 

Old  Friends  and  new  who  gather  here, 
May  kindly  thoughts  and  friendly  cheer 
Pervade  our  feast  and  warm  our  hearts. 
May  we  play  fair  in  all  the  parts 
That  life  assigns.  May  Arty  not  pelf, 
Be  boss,  and  Justice  stand  upon  our  shelf. 

And  old  f  riends  gone,  we  greet  you  too  — 
We  drink  a  silent  toast  to  you. 

Old  Friends  and  new  —  the  old  —  I  give  my  hand  to  you, 
The  new  —  why,  some  day  you  '11  be  old  —  /  give  my  hand 
to  you. 

J.  B.  CARRINGTON 


A  HISTORY 
OF  THE  SALMAGUNDI  CLUB 

CHAPTER  I 

ITS  BIRTH 

The  infant  Salmagundi  was  born  at  596  Broad- 
way, in  the  City  of  New  York,  at  eight  o'clock 
on  a  Saturday  night  in  the  month  of  November 
(it  may  have  been  December),  in  the  year  of  Our 
Lord  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy-one.  It  is  a 
comfort  to  be  precise  about  the  hour  of  the  day 
and  the  day  of  the  week,  and  a  comfort  to  feel 
that  the  circumstance  of  the  child's  eyes  opening, 
as  they  did,  on  the  skylight  of  a  studio,  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  its  after  career  in  the  world  of  art. 

The  infant  was  an  infant  club,  or  rather  an  in- 
fant destined  to  grow  up  into  a  club.  Like  its 
predecessor,  the  Century  Association,  the  Salma- 
gundi Club  had  an  humble  beginning  in  a  group 
of  art  students  who  formed  a  sketch  class  for 
mutual  improvement.  The  first  meeting  of  the 
original  Sketch  Class  was  in  the  studio  of  the 
late  Jonathan  Scott  Hartley,  in  the  old  building 
then  standing  at  596  Broadway,  just  below  the 


[  2  ] 

corner  of  Broadway  and  Houston  Street.  It  was 
a  custom  inaugurated  at  the  beginning  to  select 
a  subject  for  illustration,  and  on  the  following 
Saturday  evening  a  half-dozen  sketches  would  be 
displayed  on  the  Studio  easel  for  mutual  admi- 
ration and  friendly  criticism. 

The  members  of  the  class  during  the  first  win- 
ter were  F.  S.  Church  and  Will  Low  from  the 
studio  building  adjoining  Grace  Church,  and  Fred 
Vance,  from  a  neighboring  Broadway  studio,  and 
from  the  studios  in  the  building  where  the  class 
met,  besides  the  Hartleys,  W.  H.  Shelton  and 
Alfred  E.  Emslie,  an  English  artist  who  was  then 
illustrating  Robert  Bonner's  "New  York  Ledger 99 
and  who  is  now  a  portrait-painter  in  London. 
J.  P.  Andrews,  who  painted  still  life,  mostly 
shells  and  English  walnuts,  was  always  present, 
but  never  showed  any  of  his  work  on  the  easel. 

There  were  some  at  those  early  evening  gath- 
erings who  were  not  artists  (the  club  was  never 
without  laymen),  notably  Joseph  Hartley  and 
John,  a  younger  brother,  who  led  in  the  boxing, 
and  Will  Symons  and  Alec  Kirkman  and  one 
McDonald,  friends  of  the  Hartleys  who  came 
from  Brooklyn  to  join  in  the  festivities. 

There  was  no  formality  or  any  official  proceed- 


) 


SOLITUDE 
Two  sketches  by  Will  H.  Low 


i  3 : 


ings  in  these  early  meetings,  but  at  a  later  period 
Joseph  Hartley  was  secretary  as  well  as  chair- 
man, and  was  regarded  as  the  highest  authority 
on  parliamentary  law  by  virtue  of  his  long  serv- 
ice as  secretary  of  a  Masonic  lodge  in  Brooklyn. 
Mr.  Hartley's  acquaintance  in  Brooklyn  was  the 
natural  result  of  having,  on  his  arrival  in  New 
York,  made  his  home  on  the  Brooklyn  side  of 
the  river  with  his  maternal  uncle  Kirkman,  who 
was  an  eccentric  and  very  pious  old  gentleman, 
a  Hard-Shell  Baptist,  and  the  proprietor  of  a 
small  soap  factory.  It  was  under  the  management 
of  his  son  Alec,  who  succeeded  him,  that  the  small 
factory  grew  into  a  great  business.  Although  • 
Alec  is  long  dead,  a  millionaire  layman,  it  should 
be  remembered  that  he  was  an  active  participant 
in  the  festivities  that  surrounded  the  birth  of  the 
club,  and  Salmagundians  should  take  off  then- 
hats  to  the  great  Kirkman  vans  when  they  pass 
in  the  street. 

The  studio  was  a  large  room  lighted  by  a  broad 
skylight  and  by  three  windows  looking  down  on 
Broadway.  From  these  windows  a  few  weeks  be- 
fore the  first  meeting  of  the  Sketch  Class,  we  had 
watched  the  passage  up  Broadway  of  the  Russian 
Grand  Duke  Alexis,  escorted  by  the  Ninth  Regi- 


C  4  3 


ment  of  the  National  Guard,  led  by  its  famous 
Colonel,  Jim  Fisk,  who  was  shot  a  few  weeks  later 
at  the  Grand  Central  Hotel. 

The  room  along  its  walls  was  crowded  with 
statuary  and  barrels  and  plaster  casts.  There 
was  a  cook-stove  in  one  corner  and  bunks  behind 
screens.  The  dining-table  was  a  dry-goods  box 
from  the  Hartley  brothers'  store  in  Walker 
Street,  and  the  conveniences  for  living  were  on  a 
scale  of  elaboration  quite  in  keeping  with  the  fur- 
niture. The  Hartley  brothers,  who  kept  a  unique 
store  for  the  outfitting  of  pack-peddlers,  were 
able  to  live  more  comfortably,  but  the  bohemian 
life  in  the  studio  just  suited  them.  It  was  bache- 
lor housekeeping;  the  plaster  used  in  casting 
changed  the  windows  to  ground  glass  and  frosted 
the  furniture  and  silvered  the  cobwebs  that  clung 
to  the  angles  of  the  walls  and  to  the  frame  of  the 
skylight. 

Among  the  occasional  visitors  to  the  studio  on 
those  early  Saturday  nights  were  some  choice 
characters  who  contributed  generously  to  the 
fund  of  amusement.  "Alf  "  Becks,  a  young  Eng- 
lish actor  who  delighted  in  howling  recitations 
in  a  broad  Lancashire  dialect,  imparted  a  theat- 
rical flavor  to  these  picturesque  meetings  of  the 


C  5  3 


Salmagundi.  "  Shamus  O'Brien,"  "Laying  a  Gas- 
Pipe  down,"  "The  Explanatory  Showman,"  and 
countless  stories  more  broad  than  brilliant  were 
then  received  with  shouts  of  merriment  by  the 
boys  whose  bald  heads  nowadays  wag  wearily  at 
better  things  at  our  own  meetings  and  elsewhere. 

George  David  Brown,  of  the  "New  York  Her- 
ald," who  did  the  police  reports  and  who,  with 
his  swarthy  features  and  straight  black  hair, 
looked  more  like  an  Indian  than  like  a  white  man, 
was  a  frequent  guest  in  those  days  and  enter- 
tained us  with  ghost  stories  from  his  own  abun- 
dant experience.  He  was  a  firm  believer  in  spirit- 
ual phenomena,  and  when  he  could  gather  an 
appreciative  group  around  him  in  some  shadowy 
corner  of  the  studio,  he  spun  his  awful  yarns  with 
a  droll  humor  that  never  failed  to  fascinate  his 
hearers.  He  had  seen  strange  sights  —  or  rather 
his  ghost  had  —  standing  at  the  window  of  his 
Christie  Street  room  looking  out  into  a  blinding 
snowstorm  while  his  dead  body  lay  behind  him 
on  the  bed.  One  of  his  girls,  who  died  young,  had 
a  strange  way  of  coming  to  the  outside  of  a  Ful- 
ton ferryboat  window  when  he  crossed  the  river 
on  stormy  winter  nights  when  the  broken  cakes 
of  ice  were  crunching  and  grinding  under  the 


C  6  3 


paddle  wheels.  He  was  dramatizing  Bret  Harte's 
"M'liss,"  and  claimed  that  he  was  writing  a  life 
of  Christ.  Brown  was  an  original  member  of  the 
Thirteen  Club  and  a  conspicuous  figure  at  Pfaff's. 
Marshall,  the  engraver,  in  a  rusty  silk  hat,  who 
was  at  about  that  time  engraving  his  famous 
head  of  Lincoln,  and  O'Donovan,  the  sculptor, 
a  Virginian,  who  was  afterwards  one  of  the  orig- 
inal members  of  the  Tile  Club,  were  sometimes 
present  at  these  early  meetings.  "Ferd"  Ward, 
then  a  handsome  boy,  who  afterwards  achieved 
notoriety  in  Wall  Street  and  wrecked  the  fortune 
of  General  Grant,  came  once  or  twice  with  his 
brother  Will,  who  was  employed  in  the  sub-treas- 
ury, and  was  regarded  as  a  literary  person  be- 
cause he  was  doing  night  work  on  Appleton's  En- 
cyclopaedia. Young  Crab  tree,  a  son  of  the  sprightly 
Lotta,  was  another  visitor  at  our  early  meetings. 

Another  frequenter  of  these  early  meetings 
was  Eugene  Pfister,  a  young  sculptor,  who  had 
fallen  in  love  with  the  daughter  of  his  master,  a 
famous  sculptor  in  a  neighboring  city.  He  had 
written  a  paper  on  Art  for  the 44 Atlantic  Monthly" 
which  not  being  returned,  he  assumed  had  been 
accepted,  and  he  had  come  to  New  York  all 
aglow  with  his  success  to  win  further  fame  as  a 


C  7  1 

writer  and  so  to  win  the  hand  of  his  lady-love. 

After  the  criticisms  and  after  the  semi-official 
proceedings,  which  ended  in  the  selection  of  a 
subject  for  illustration  at  the  next  meeting,  the 
crowd  smoked  a  good  deal  and  ate  sausages 
baked  in  a  top  coat  of  pie-crust  and  drank  coffee. 
Sometimes  there  was  singing,  and  always  rounds 
with  the  gloves  that  made  the  plaster  casts  dance 
on  their  pedestals  and  filled  the  air  with  dust  like 
the  dust  in  a  mill.  Occasionally  the  foils  cut  some 
figure  in  the  entertainment,  but  no  member  was 
much  up  in  the  art  of  fencing.  The  rusty  blades 
with  buttons  on  their  tips  and  the  wire  masks 
were  more  for  studio  decoration  than  for  use.  A 
drawing  now  hanging  in  the  library  of  the  club 
shows  one  of  those  early  meetings  in  the  Hart- 
ley studio.  It  was  made  by  Will  Low,  who  is 
looking  in  at  the  left  side  of  the  picture,  and  was 
used  to  illustrate  an  article  on  "Young  Artists' 
Life  in  New  York"  in  "Scribner's  Monthly," 
which  afterwards  became  the  "Century  Maga- 
zine." Mr.  Hartley,  the  sculptor,  in  a  linen  tunic 
is  preparing  the  sausages  over  a  cook-stove  and 
at  the  same  time  warning  off  the  boxers  who  are 
dodging  about  the  center  of  the  room.  The  screen, 
covered  with  the  sketches  of  the  evening,  stands 


C  8  ] 


to  the  right,  and  it  is  John  Hartley  who  is  setting 
the  table.  H.  P.  Share  sits  on  a  turn-table  in 
the  right-hand  foreground,  and  behind  him  are 
M.  J.  Burns  and  Alfred  Becks.  W.  H.  Shelton  sits 
astride  a  chair  in  front  of  the  easel,  and  in  the 
group  behind  him  W.  W.  Denslow  is  recognizable 
in  the  silk  hat. 

C.  Y.  Turner,  who  was  then  employed  by  a 
photographer  on  crayon  work,  joined  the  class 
the  second  winter.  During  that  winter  F.  S. 
Church  brought  to  one  of  the  meetings  Carroll 
Beckwith,  a  slender  lad  from  Chicago  who  was 
on  his  way  to  Paris  to  study  art  as  the  protege  of 
his  uncle  Sherwood. 

There  were  some  interesting  characters  in  the 
studios  opening  on  the  long  hall  at  596  Broad- 
way, who  were  not  identified  with  the  Sketch  Class. 
Mr.  Whitehorn  was  one  of  the  old  Academicians, 
who  painted  portraits  from  photographs,  and  was 
noted  for  his  gallantries.  John  Lane  was  a  myste- 
rious and  forbidding-looking  party,  who  colored 
photographs  and  was  a  receiver  of  smuggled  cigars, 
which  he  stored  under  the  floor  of  his  studio,  a 
section  of  which  was  movable  for  that  purpose. 
His  studio  was  a  dark  and  mysterious  region,  said 
to  be  not  over-clean,  to  which  no  one  was  admitted. 


C  9  D 


John  Watts,  a  son  of  Mrs.  Sefton,  the  famous 
old  actress,  occupied  a  small  studio  on  the  hall, 
whose  walls  were  covered  with  water-color  draw- 
ings on  woolly  paper,  of  picturesque  old  buildings 
about  town.  When  he  was  not  smoking  his  pipe 
and  contemplating  these  productions  of  his  brush, 
he  was  roaming  in  bystreets  and  through  unfre- 
quented sections  of  the  old  city  in  search  for  an- 
cient rookeries  (lurching  on  corner  lots  preferred) 
sufficiently  dilapidated  to  be  worthy  of  reproduc- 
tion and  a  place  in  his  collection.  He  was  never 
known  to  sell  a  picture  and  seemed  to  live  in  mod- 
est dependence  on  his  family's  theatrical  past. 

My  room-mate,  J.  P.  Andrews,  who  painted 
conch  shells  and  English  walnuts  and  certain 
other  inanimate  objects,  not  likely  to  shrink  or 
decay  or  otherwise  perish,  during  the  long  period 
of  reproduction,  usually  effected  a  sale  of  his 
masterpiece  by  promoting  a  lottery  among  his 
friends  and  neighbors,  and  this  success  was  some- 
times followed  by  a  celebration  that  made  it 
necessary  to  rearrange  the  poor  shells  and  wal- 
nuts for  another  effort. 

There  was  one  studio  on  the  hall  that  turned 
out  campaign  heads  on  banners  at  election  time. 

Mr.  Fowler,  the  agent  or  the  owner  of  the 


I  10  3 


building,  was  a  frequent  and  often  an  unwelcome 
caller  at  the  studios.  He  was  an  old  man,  slightly- 
palsied,  of  a  hesitating  and  diffident  manner,  and 
no  match  for  some  of  his  artist  tenants.  He  was 
watched  for  on  the  stairways,  dodged  in  the 
halls,  and  doors  were  locked  against  him.  The 
particular  studio  wherein  the  club  was  born, 
when  occupied  by  George  David  Brown  and  a 
sculptor  friend  (who  will  appreciate  my  delicacy), 
was  a  guarded  citadel  into  which  he  could  not 
enter,  although  the  inmates  of  the  castle  ob- 
served his  distress  through  a  hole  in  the  door. 

The  building  at  596  Broadway  was  next  to  the 
famous  Helmbold  drug-store,  which  separated  us 
from  the  Metropolitan  Hotel.  Niblo's  Garden, 
then  a  fashionable  theater,  was  a  building  behind 
the  hotel,  with  a  stage  entrance  on  the  rear  street 
and  the  main  Broadway  entrance  through  the  ho- 
tel. Niblo's  Garden  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  the 
summer  of  1872,  and  the  fire  was  a  rare  spectacle 
from  the  south  window  of  the  studio  I  occupied 
with  J.  P.  Andrews,  until  the  heat  of  the  confla- 
gration obliged  us  to  close  the  iron  shutter. 

Niblo's  Garden  was  not  considered,  at  that 
time,  as  too  far  downtown,  although  it  was  never 
rebuilt.  In  fact  it  was  quite  a  theatrical  and 


C  11  3 


"show"  neighborhood,  affording  a  peculiar  out- 
of-door  atmosphere  that  surrounded  the  cradle 
of  the  infant  Salmagundi  Club  and  doubtless  rose 
up  to  mingle  with  the  atmosphere  within  that 
sacred  nursery  of  Art.  Tony  Pastor's  was  just 
around  the  corner  in  Houston  Street,  hard  by 
two  English  chophouses  known  as  the  "House 
of  Lords"  and  the  "House  of  Commons."  The 
Globe  Theater,  where  George  Fox  played  Humpty 
Dumpty  the  year  'round,  was  on  Broadway  just 
above  the  corner  of  Houston  Street.  Niblo's,  in 
1871,  had  just  passed  the  Black  Crook  period, 
but  every  cellar  in  the  neighborhood  was  a  free- 
and-easy,  or  a  "Dew  Drop  Inn,"  where  girl- 
graduates  of  the  famous  ballet  served  the  drinks 
in  pink  and  blue  and  red  tights.  There  were  lot- 
teries and  gambling-houses  on  every  hand,  con- 
fident of  the  protection  of  police  headquarters 
which  was  close  by  in  Mulberry  Street. 

It  was  the  ambition  of  most  of  the  members 
of  the  Sketch  Class  to  do  something  in  illustra- 
tion, and  the  art  managers  of  the  various  illus- 
trated publications  were  regarded  with  expecta- 
tion not  unmixed  with  awe.  The  art  department 
at  Harpers'  was  presided  over  by  Mr.  Charles 
Parsons,  an  amiable  gentleman,  who  held  out  a 


i 


C  12  ] 


cordial  hand  to  new  men.  The  Appletons  were 
preparing  an  ambitious  work, "  Picturesque  Amer- 
ica," under  the  art  control  of  a  Mr.  Bunce,  a 
nervous  gentleman,  who  was  said  to  be  in  priv- 
ate life  the  gentlest  and  most  lovable  of  men,  but 
who  was  liable,  on  the  least  provocation  from  a 
visiting  artist,  to  fly  into  a  rage  and  explode  like 
a  box  of  fire-crackers.  Will  H.  Low  was  already 
in  the  employ  of  this  dreaded  Cerberus,  and  we 
listened  with  awe  and  trembling  to  his  reports  of 
events  of  which  he  had  been  a  witness. 

"Scribner's  Monthly,"  then  published  at  743 
Broadway,  was  an  approachable  market.  "Frank 
Leslie's,"  at  the  corner  of  Pearl  and  Elm  Streets, 
near  the  shot  tower,  was  a  possible  market  for 
jokes,  and  farther  downtown  were  "Wild  Oats" 
in  Ann  Street,  and  "Phunny  Phellow,"  and  <a 
German  comic  paper  called  "Snederadang." 

My  first  success  was  at  "Wild  Oats"  with  a 
full-page  drawing  of  Brigham  Young's  wives, 
for  which  I  received  twenty-five  dollars.  The 
imaginary  heads  of  the  Salt  Lake  ladies  were 
drawn  in  pencil  on  a  yellow  boxwood  block  made 
up  of  a  large  number  of  small  blocks  riveted  to- 
gether. A  drawing  of  my  stage-coach,  "Aban- 
doned," afterwards  appeared  in  "Hearth  and 


SOLITUDE 
By  Alfred  E.  Emslie 


C  13  1 

Home."  It  was  after  the  first  season  at  596  Broad- 
way that  F.  S.  Church  came  up  from  Harpers' 
with  a  market-basket  full  of  boxwood  blocks,  the 
admiration  and  envy  of  the  class. 

These  struggles  and  successes  weave  into  a  wider 
atmosphere  that  surrounded  the  infant  club.  While 
the  members  came  together  but  once  a  week  at 
the  Hartley  studio,  they  met  nightly  in  the  base- 
ment of  the  National  Academy  of  Design,  at  the 
corner  of  Twenty-third  Street  and  Fourth  Avenue 
in  the  cast  room  or  in  the  life  class.  We  some- 
times looked  in  at  a  large  room  in  the  Cooper 
Union  where  Vinnie  Ream  was  modeling  a  bust 
of  Peter  Cooper,  behind  a  red  cord,  which  kept 
off  the  spectators. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  REVIVAL  OF  THE  CLUB 
In  the  spring  of  1873,  after  the  second  winter  of 
the  Sketch  Class  at  596  Broadway,  Mr.  Hartley, 
the  sculptor,  went  abroad  for  two  years'  study  in 
Rome,  and  the  class  was  without  a  home.  There 
was  no  lack  of  studios  in  which  the  class  might 
have  continued  its  meetings.  Most  of  the  build- 
ings on  Broadway  above  Houston  Street  were 
filled  with  studios  on  the  upper  floors,  and  the 
Tenth  Street  studio  building  was  a  fashionable 
uptown  place  where  society  flocked  to  the  artist's 
receptions.  It  was  quite  a  different  town  then. 
Central  Park  lay  beyond  the  northern  boundary 
of  the  city,  and  Fifth  Avenue  was  not  yet  built 
up  so  far.  Between  Saint  Patrick's  Cathedral 
and  the  park  was  one  block  where  high  ledges  of 
rock  faced  each  other,  towering  above  the  street, 
crowned  with  the  huts  of  squatters,  and  with 
stable-yards  and  paddocks  of  battered  tin  roof- 
ing, where  goats  looked  down  on  the  traffic  of 
Fifth  Avenue. 

There  was  a  rather  shabby  and  picturesque 
old  building  at  896  Broadway,  opposite  to  Lord 


C  15  ^ 

and  Taylor's,  that  was  destined  to  be  the  second 
home  of  the  Sketch  Class.  It  was  in  a  pictur- 
esque neighborhood  looking  down  on  the  wide 
dooryard  of  Peter  Goelet's  house  at  the  corner 
of  Nineteenth  Street,  where  several  gorgeous- 
tailed  pheasants  and  a  crumple-horned  cow  wan- 
dered about  the  lawn  and  looked  through  the 
iron  fence  at  the  parade  on  Broadway.  The 
eccentric  owner  of  this  peculiar  establishment 
had  a  carpenter's  shop  in  the  basement  of  the 
house  where  he  was  often  seen  working  at  the 
bench. 

In  the  ramshackle  building  there  were  barbers' 
shops  and  chiropodists'  parlors  opening  on  the 
stairway  leading  up  to  the  studios  on  the  upper 
floor.  Mr.  Hartley  remained  abroad  for  two 
years,  returning  in  1874  or  1875,  when  he  took 
a  studio  in  the  building  at  896  Broadway  and 
soon  thereafter  the  Sketch  Class  resumed  its 
meetings.  There  is  no  record  of  any  meeting 
during  Mr.  Hartley's  absence.  The  earliest  rec- 
ord in  the  possession  of  the  club,  after  Mr.  Hart- 
ley's return,  is  the  secretary's  report  for  Decem- 
ber 30,  1876,  when,  among  the  five  candidates 
voted  on  for  membership  on  that  evening,  appear 
the  names  of  Frederick  Dielman,  late  president 


C  16  3 


of  the  National  Academy  of  Design,  and  A.  B. 
Frost,  the  well-known  illustrator. 

At  that  time  the  class  or  club  seems  to  have 
been  limited  in  membership  to  twenty,  and  only 
two  members  could  be  elected  at  one  meeting. 
One  month  later,  on  the  30th  of  January,  1877, 
we  find  the  record:  "It  was  decided  the  name  of 
the  club  shall  be  'The  Salmagundi  Sketch  Club.' " 
The  name  was  the  suggestion  of  J.  Scott  Hartley, 
and  was,  of  course,  borrowed  from  the  title  of 
the  celebrated  papers  issued  by  Irving,  Pauld- 
ing, and  others  from  Cockloft  Hall  in  Newark 
in  1807  under  the  title  "Salmagundi,  or  Whim- 
whams  and  Opinions  of  Launcelot  Longstaff,  Esq., 
and  others."  A  second  series  of  these  papers  was 
published  in  1819.  And  as  late  as  1830  we  find 
the  word  "Salmagundi"  a  favorite  heading  for 
-  the  column  of  clippings  in  the  "  New  York  Mir- 
ror" which  was  then  the  cream  of  polite  literature 
as  conducted  by  N.  P.  Willis,  George  P.  Morris, 
and  Theodore  S.  Fay. 

The  word  seems  to  have  been  of  remote  Italian 
origin  and  was  adopted  as  the  name  of  a  salad  of 
many  ingredients.  In  the  "History  of  the  Coro- 
nation of  James  II,"  «by  Francis  Sanford,  Esq., 
printed  by  Thomas  Newcomb,  London,  1687, 


t  17  H 


"Salmagundy"  is  mentioned  as  one  of  the  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  dishes  served  at  the 
Royal  table. 

Rabelais  uses  the  word  in  "Pantagruel"  as  the 
name  of  a  "  Chatellenie  "  or  Lairdship  with  a  pe- 
culiar revenue  of  Cockchafers,  Locusts,  and  Peri- 
winkles. The  spelling  in  Rabelais  is  "Salmagun- 
din,"  but  Thomas  Moore  adopts  the  present  spell- 
ing in  his  " Salmagundian  Hymn": 

Hurra!  Hurra!'  I  heard  them  say. 

And  they  cheered  and  shouted  all  the  way, 

As  the  Laird  of  Salmagundi  went 

To  open  in  state  his  Parliament. 

"The  Salmagundians  once  were  rich, 
Or  thought  they  were  —  no  matter  which  — 
For,  every  year,  the  Revenue 
From  their  Periwinkles  larger  grew; 
And  their  rulers,  skilled  in  all  the  trick, 
And  legerdemain  of  arithmetic, 
Knew  how  to  place  1,  2,  3,  4, 

5,  6,  7,  8,  and  9  and  10, 
Such  various  ways,  behind,  before, 
That  they  made  a  unit  seem  a  score, 

And  proved  themselves  most  wealthy  men! 

"So,  on  they  went,  a  prosperous  crew, 
The  people  wise,  the  rulers  clever  — 
And  God  help  those,  like  me  and  you, 
Who  dared  to  doubt  (as  some  now  do) 
That  the  Periwinkle  Revenue 

Would  thus  go  flourishing  on  forever. 


C  18  1 


"'Hurra!  Hurra! '  I  heard  them  say, 
And  they  cheered  and  shouted  all  the  way, 
As  the  Great  Panurge  in  glory  went 
To  open  his  own  dear  Parliament. 

"But  folks  at  length  began  to  doubt 
What  all  this  conjuring  was  about; 
And  every  day,  more  deep  in  debt 
They  saw  their  wealthy  rulers  get:  — 
'Let's  look  (said  they)  the  items  thro' 
And  see  if  what  we  're  told  be  true 
Of  our  Periwinkle  Revenue ! ' 

But,  Lord,  they  found  there  was  n't  a  tittle 

Of  truth  in  aught  they  heard  before; 
For  they  gained  by  Periwinkles  little, 

And  lost  by  Locusts  ten  times  more! 
These  Locusts  are  a  lordly  breed 
Some  Salmagundians  love  to  feed. 
Of  all  the  beasts  that  ever  were  born, 
Your  Locust  most  delights  in  corn; 
And  though  his  body  be  but  small 
To  fatten  him  takes  the  devil  and  all. 

"Nor  this  the  worst,  for,  dearer  still 
Alack,  alack,  and  well-a-day! 
Their  Periwinkles  —  once  the  stay 
And  prop  of  the  Salmagundi  till  — 
For  want  of  feeding,  all  fell  ill ! 

And  still,  as  they  thinned  and  died  away 
The  Locusts,  aye,  and  the  Locusts  Bill, 
Grew  faster  and  faster  every  day! 

"'Oh,  fie!  Oh,  fie!'  was  now  the  cry, 
As  they  saw  the  gaudy  show  go  by, 
And  the  Laird  of  Salmagundi  went 
To  open  his  Locust  Parliament!" 


I  19  3 


I  find  in  the  club's  copy  of-  "Rabelais"  the 
following  interesting  letter  from  the  late  Russell 
Sturgis: 

"April  12th,  1901 

"Dear  Mr.  Shelton: 

"In  Pantagruel,  Book  II,  Chapter  32,  the 
great  prince  who  gives  name  to  the  romance  gives 
away  the  *chatellenie  de  Salmigondin,'  but  in 
Book  III,  Chapter  2,  he  gives  it  this  time  to  Pan- 
urge,  the  name  of  the  old  lordship  being  spelled 
differently  in  this  instance,  namely,  'Salmigoun- 
din.'  This  second  instance  is  at  the  beginning  of 
that  famous  chapter  in  which  it  is  explained  how 
Panurge  ate  his  wheat  in  the  blade;  namely  in 
fourteen  days  destroyed  and  used  up  the  certain 
and  uncertain  revenue  of  his  manor  for  three  years 
—  and  how  being  remonstrated  with  by  his  lord, 
Pantagruel,  he  explained  that  he  did  not  want  to 
be  rich,  he  had  never  dreamed  of  such  a  thing, 
and  thought  only  of  living  jolly.  But  Panurge 
proposes  to  give  away  his  lordship  and  especially 
its  revenue  of  cockchafers,  Book  IV,  and  again 
Book  IV,  Chapter  59,  a  dish  of  some  kind  called 
the  1  Salmigoundin '  is  announced  but  is  not  ex- 
plained. It  has  always  been  my  belief  that  the 


C  20  3 


word  was  of  Rabelais's  own  coining  and  meant 
nothing  particular. 

" '  Salmigondis '  (as  spelled  by  Larousse)  is  a 
sort  of  ragout  of  different  sorts  of  meats  and  fla- 
voring ingredients,  and  apparently  hot;  but  as 
Irving  used  the  corresponding  word,  he  appeared 
to  have  imagined  it  to  be  a  cold  dish,  as  a  salad 
with  oil  and  lemon  juice.  ..." 

The  name  of  the  club  as  written  in  the  charter 
granted  in  1880  was  '  '  The  Salmagundi  Sketch 
Club,"  and  so  it  appeared  on  the  title-pages  of  the 
catalogues  of  the  Annual  Black  and  White  Exhi- 
bitions of  the  club  from  1879  to  1884.  The  incor- 
porators were  Joseph  and  J.  Scott  Hartley,  J. 
Wells  Champney,  George  Inness,  Jr.,  A.  C.  Mor- 
gan, Walter  Clark,  J.  Francis  Murphy,  W.  H. 
Shelton,  Milton  J.  Burns,  H.  P.  Share,  and  Sid- 
ney and  Charles  Osborne.  The  word  "Sketch" 
has  since  been  removed  from  the  title  of  the  club 
by  official  action  at  Albany. 

From  chairman  of  the  Sketch  Class,  Joseph 
Hartley  became  president  of  the  club  and  re- 
mained the  first  president  through  the  exhibition 
period.  He  was  for  a  long  time  treasurer  of  the 
club  and  during  the  years  when  its  finances  were 


George  Inness,  Jr.  Carl  Hirschberg 

C.  Y.  Turner 
G.  W.  Maynard  A.  C.  Morgan 


C  21  } 


in  a  precarious  and  uncertain  condition,  he  gener- 
ously paid  the  club  bills,  and  advanced  funds  to 
carry  it  over  more  than  one  financial  crisis.  In 
the  early  period  when  he  was  the  only  "layman" 
member,  he  attended  to  the  club  business  while  the 
artist-members  made  the  pictures.  He  was  the  first 
secretary  as  well  as  the  first  president  and  the  first 
layman,  and  some  of  his  early  records  are  short  and 
to  the  point,  reading  like  abbreviated  cablegrams: 

"27th  Dec.  Mr.  Morgan  resigned  from  com- 
mittee on  Hall.  'Happy  as  a  King.' 

"3d.  January  1879.  No  quorum.  Weirdness." 

It  should  be  explained  that  "Happy  as  a  King" 
and  "Weirdness"  were  subjects  chosen  for  illus- 
tration. 

"14th  Feby.  Valentine's  Day.  F.  Hopkinson 
Smith  proposed  G.  W.  Maynard  do.  'Convivial- 
ity' was  selected.  'Silence'  was  substituted." 

The  entries  indicate  a  constant  shifting  of  mem- 
bership; dropping  members  for  fines  or  for  non- 
payment of  dues  and  reinstating  when  accounts 
were  settled;  records  of  members  showing  sketches 
and  subjects  selected.  Such  names  appear  in  this 
first  book  of  record  as  Walter  Shirlaw,  Howard 
Pyle,  W.  A.  Rogers,  C.  D.  Weldon,  Rufus  Zog- 
baum,  Joseph  Lauber,  Harry  Ogden,  Gilbert 


C  22  ] 


Gaul,  T.  de  Thulstrup,  Charles  Graham,  and 
L  W.  Taber. 

Of  the  two  names  proposed  for  membership  on 
Saint  Valentine's  Day,  Mr.  Maynard  was  elected 
but  Mr.  Smith's  name  did  not  go  before  the  club 
as  it  was  found  that  several  of  the  members,  who 
were  also  members  of  the  Water-Color  Society, 
were  determined  to  blackball  him,  and  I,  who  had 
proposed  him,  had  to  ask  him  to  withdraw  his 
name.  It  should  be  explained  here  that  the  Amer- 
ican Water-Color  Society,  at  that  time,  was  di- 
vided into  two  camps,  the  progressives  led  by  F. 
Hopkinson  Smith  and  the  conservatives  who  were 
opposed  to  F.  Hopkinson  Smith.  The  club,  at 
this  time,  was  somewhat  narrow  in  its  attitude 
towards  new  members.  It  happened  a  little  later 
that  Stanford  White  was  also  proposed  for  mem- 
bership, and  a  member  took  the  floor  solemnly  to 
explain  that  an  architect  was  not  an  artist. 

On  October  20,  1877,  the  subject  illustrated 
was  "Wind,"  on  the  8th  of  December  it  was 
"Hell,"  and  on  November  17,  "A  Frosty  Morn- 
ing." At  that  meeting  "A  Calm"  was  chosen  for 
the  next  subject,  but  before  adjournment  it  was 
changed  to  "NG."  On  April  12, 1878,  the  subject 
illustrated  was  "Extremes  Meet,"  and  three  of 


C  23  } 


the  sketches  have  been  preserved.  One  is  by  Fred 
T.  Vance,  who  died  in  the  Soldiers'  Home  at  Bath, 
New  York,  in  1890;  one  by  H.  M.  Wolcott;  and 
the  third  by  an  unknown  hand.  These  drawings 
and  a  few  others  of  that  period  may  be  found  in 
a  scrap-book  in  the  library  marked  "Invoices." 

It  was  the  custom  of  the  secretary  at  these 
early  meetings  to  read  a  list  of  subjects,  which  had 
gradually  accumulated,  and  the  reading  was  com- 
monly accompanied  by  free  comments  and  cat- 
calls. When  the  motion  to  adjourn  came  up,  it 
often  happened  that  the  ayes  and  noes  were  about 
equally  divided  and  the  two  factions  tried  to 
howl  each  other  down. 

There  is  evidence  of  some,  who  were  present, 
that  the  reorganization  of  the  club  took  place  at 
a  meeting,  held  in  Mr.  Hartley's  studio  at  896 
Broadway,  which  was  called  for  that  purpose,  and 
at  which  I  was  not  present.  The  first  mention  of 
the  place  of  meeting  occurs  in  the  entry  for  Octo- 
ber 6, 1877,  nearly  a  year  after  the  record  begins. 
It  was  held  on  that  evening  in  the  studio  of  C.  Y. 
Turner  and  Carl  Hirschberg,  at  896  Broadway. 
As  it  was  during  that  month  that  the  club  re- 
moved to  No.  1  Union  Square,  it  is  probable  that 
its  meetings  had  been  held  in  the  Turner-Hirsch- 


I  24  ] 


berg  Studio  for  at  least  a  year  before  leaving 
that  building,  and  probably  the  election  of  Diel- 
man  in  December,  1876,  had  taken  place  in  that 
studio. 

On  October  27,  the  club  went  to  No.  1  Union 
Square,  where  it  hired  a  room  from  one  Huffing- 
ton,  who  sold  etchings  from  a  portfolio,  and  who 
consented  to  give  up  his  quarters  for  one  night  a 
week  for  a  weekly  rental  of  $3.00.  At  this  time 
the  drink  of  the  club  was  a  mixture  of  coffee  and 
chocolate  called  "Salmagundi."  This  peculiar  com- 
bination had  been  in  vogue  since  about  the  time 
of  the  choice  of  the  club's  name.  It  was  not  unusual 
for  a  club  to  adopt  an  official  beverage :  that  of  the 
New  York  Etching  Club  was  whiskey  and  ginger 
ale  served  in  exceptionally  tall  glasses. 

During  the  brief  period  of  its  stay  in  Union 
Square  the  club  took  the  first  downward  step  from 
its  austere  stand  on  the  subject  of  soft  drinks. 
The  coffee  and  chocolate  had  been  supplied  for 
years  by  "  Chris,"  the  German  janitor  at  896 
Broadway,  who  continued  the  same  service  to  the 
club  after  the  removal  to  Union  Square.  If  the 
business  meeting  was  not  over  when  "Chris"  ar- 
rived, the  pots  were  set  on  the  hearth  close  to  the 
open  grate  fire.  The  house  committee,  commonly 


C  25  3 


called  the  "hash  committee,"  consisted  of  one 
member,  and  at  this  particular  period  the  house 
committee  was  the  writer  of  this  history.  There 
had  been  various  propositions  to  serve  beer  at  the 
weekly  meetings  which  had  met  with  considerable 
opposition.  One  of  the  leaders  of  the  opposition 
was  James  Kelly,  an  artist,  then  looked  upon  as 
one  of  the  promising  illustrators  because  of  the 
violent  action  of  his  horses  and  of  their  riders  and 
who  has  since  become  a  sculptor.  One  night  the 
house  committee  instructed  "Chris"  to  fill  the 
pots  with  beer.  The  willing  janitor  timed  his  ar- 
rival so  as  to  appear  just  as  the  meeting  adjourned. 
The  supper  was  just  at  that  stage  when  the  dry 
cakes  began  to  stick  in  the  throats  of  the  thirsty 
members,  so  that  the  advent  of  "Chris"  was 
hailed  with  vociferous  calls  for  drink. 

The  house  committee  took  the  two  pots,  one 
in  each  hand,  according  to  custom,  and  asked  the 
first  member  reached  whether  he  would  have  choc- 
olate, coffee,  or  salmagundi.  Whatever  the  reply 
was,  beer  foamed  into  the  cup  and  into  all  the 
other  cups  as  they  were  extended.  The  old  club 
drink  was  not  given  up  altogether,  but  thereafter 
steins  had  their  places  among  the  cups  and  saucers. 

In  February,  1878,  the  club  moved  to  a  build- 


C  26  ] 


ing  known  as  Science  Hall  in  Eighth  Street,  op- 
posite to  the  Mercantile  Library.  Here  it  occu- 
pied permanent  quarters  of  its  own,  where  a  few 
pictures  could  be  hung  on  the  walls  and  where  the 
dishes  and  crumbs  of  the  supper  could  remain  un- 
disturbed through  the  week.  With  the  occupancy 
of  the  new  room  the  meeting  night  was  changed 
from  Saturday  to  Friday  because  Saturday  was 
"Century  Night"  at  the  old  club  in  Fifteenth 
Street,  and  George  Maynard  was  a  member  of 
both  the  Salmagundi  Club  and  the  Century  Club. 
It  happened  that  Friday  night  was  also  the  meet- 
ing night  of  a  society  of  long-haired  progression- 
ists, male  and  female,  which  was  always  in  ses- 
sion holding  a  solemn  conclave  on  the  first  floor 
of  the  building  when  the  Salmagundi  Club  mem- 
bers came  in. 

Howard  Pyle  was  one  of  the  popular  members 
of  that  period  when  a  member's  popularity  de- 
pended largely  on  the  quality  of  his  work.  He  was 
usually  too  busy  to  attend  the  meetings,  but  it 
was  only  a  step  from  Eighth  Street  to  the  studio 
building  adjoining  Grace  Church,  and  a  commit- 
tee of  one  was  frequently  appointed  to  bring  him 
down.  Sometimes  he  would  be  found  writing,  but 
more  often  with  a  sheet  of  Whatman's  paper  on 


SOMETHING  FRESH 
By  Howard  Pyle 


C  27  3 


his  easel  moving  backward  and  forward  before  a 
wet  drawing  by  the  light  of  a  student-lamp,  and 
not  to  be  disturbed  or  enticed  from  his  work  by 
threat  or  persuasion. 

The  subject  chosen  for  illustration  at  the  first 
meeting  at  Science  Hall  was  "Something  Fresh." 
Probably  the  last  subject  illustrated  at  Science 
Hall  was  "The  End,"  and  Mr.  Morgan's  amusing 
treatment  of  that  subject  has  also  been  preserved 
in  the  scrap-book.  F-I-N-I-S  in  five  staggering 
block  letters,  is  represented  carrying  off  the  table 
and  chairs  and  the  two  pots  that  were  used  for 
coffee  and  chocolate. 

It  was  while  the  club  was  at  Science  Hall  that 
its  first  exhibition  of  drawings  in  black  and  white 
was  held  at  the  Leavitt  Galleries  at  817  Broad- 
way, near  Thirteenth  Street.  Leavitt's  corre- 
sponded to  the  American  Galleries  of  to-day,  and 
it  was  there  that  the  great  auctions  of  foreign 
paintings  began.  Some  of  the  favorites  of  that 
period,  conspicuous  in  all  the  collections  sold, 
were  Meyer  von  Bremen,  Schreyer,  Verboeckho- 
ven,  and  little  Preyer,  who  usually  painted  a  glass 
of  champagne  with  the  bubbles  ascending  and  a 
house-fly  somewhere  in  the  composition.  Still- 
life  pictures  were  especially  popular  at  that  time 


I  28  3 


and  brought  great  prices.  There  was  always  a 
group  of  long-wooled  sheep  by  Schenck,  huddled 
together  in  the  blinding  snow. 

The  sale  took  place  on  the  evenings  of  May  23 
and  24,  1878.  There  were  202  drawings  sold  for 
$1145 ;  about  one  half  of  this  sum  was  absorbed  in 
the  expense  account.  This  exhibition  and  sale 
was  reckoned  as  Number  One  in  the  list  of  Black 
and  White  Exhibitions  which  followed.  Accord- 
ing to  the  list  of  members  published  in  the  cata- 
logue of  the  sale  at  Leavitt's  the  club  had  but 
twenty-nine  members: 


M.  J.  Burns 
F.  S.  Church 
Walter  Clark 
H.  P.  Cusachs 
Frank  Fowler 
F.  M.  Gregory 
Jon.  S.  Hartley 
Jos.  Hartley 
Geo.  Inness,  Jr. 
James  Kelly 
J.  Lauber 
S.  G.  McCutcheon 
C.  Mente 
A.  C.  Morgan 
C.  A.  Needham 


Charles  Osborne 

G.  W.  Piggott 
Howard  Pyle 
W.  A.  Rogers 

H.  P.  Share 
W.  H.  Shelton 
W.  P.  Snyder 

I.  W.  Taber 

F.  H.  Tompkins 
C.  Y.  Turner 
C.  F.  Tuttle 
F.  Vance 
C.  D.  Weldon 
H.  P.  Wolcott 


A.  B.  Frost  was  on  the  staff  of  the  " Graphic" 
when  he  joined  the  club  in  January,  1877.  The 


C  29  3 


"Graphic"  was  an  illustrated  daily  that  repro- 
duced pen  drawings  by  the  newly  discovered  pro- 
cess of  the  Photo  Engraving  Company,  and  was 
the  first  daily  paper  in  New  York  to  publish  illus- 
trations. According  to  the  record  Mr.  Frost  was 
"  Dropped  to  go  to  England 99  within  a  month  after 
joining.  CD.  Weldon  was  a  draughtsman  on  the 
same  paper.  W.  A.  Rogers  and  Charles  Graham 
were  at "  Harper's."  Nearly  all  the  members  were 
students  in  the  schools  of  the  National  Academy 
of  Design  and  afterwards  seceded  from  that  insti- 
tution with  the  group  of  students  who  founded  the 
Art  Students'  League  at  108  Fifth  Avenue. 

Walter  Shirlaw  had  dropped  out  of  member- 
ship before  the  exhibition  period,  but  in  gratitude 
for  his  loan  of  a  series  of  cartoons  in  charcoal, 
which  was  used  as  a  frieze  in  one  of  the  rooms 
during  the  first  occupation  of  the  old  Academy 
Building  at  Twenty -Third  Street  and  Fourth 
Avenue,  he  was  made  an  honorary  member.  The 
same  distinction  was  conferred  on  J.  G.  Brown  in 
gratitude  for  a  loan  of  a  hundred  dollars  to  help 
meet  the  deficit  of  1879,  but  the  honor  was  not  in 
satisfaction  of  the  debt. 

It  was  one  of  the  curious  customs  of  the  club, 
when  a  candidate  for  membership  was  defeated 


C  30  3 


at  the  election,  immediately  to  propose  him  for 
honorary  membership.  This  was  usually  done  in 
the  form  of  a  motion  made  by  his  immediate  spon- 
sor and  would  be  persistently  brought  up,  week 
after  week,  although  no  such  motion  was  ever  suc- 
cessful, or  was  ever  expected  to  be. 

After  the  auction  at  Leavitt's  the  members  of 
the  club  who  wore  silk  hats  and  cut-away  coats 
and  varnished  boots,  and  carried  tightly  rolled, 
ten-dollar  umbrellas,  walked  up  Broadway  with 
a  smug  consciousness  of  their  eminent  respecta- 
bility, while  the  members  who  wore  soft  hats  and 
velveteen  coats  and  seldom  cut  their  hair,  re- 
paired to  a  neighboring  restaurant,  which  was 
below  the  sidewalk,  and  celebrated  the  occasion 
with  a  dinner. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  EXHIBITION  PERIOD 
The  present  chapter  covers  a  period  of  nine  years 
of  trials  and  achievements,  of  financial  straits,  of 
frequent  movings,  and  of  homeless  wanderings  — 
but  always  with  the  Black  and  White  Exhibi- 
tions well  in  hand.  We  could  be  idle  during  the 
long  summers  in  the  mountains  or  by  the  sea,  but 
when  fall  came  there  were  drawings  to  collect  and 
catalogues  to  be  printed,  and  a  function,  that  at 
one  time  became  almost  international,  to  be  con- 
ducted to  a  success. 

In  October,  1879,  the  club  returned  to  the 
shabby  and  picturesque  building  at  896  Broad- 
way. The  room  it  then  occupied  had  a  square 
window  looking  on  the  hall  which  served  an  excel- 
lent purpose  as  a  setting  for  Punch  and  Judy 
shows,  which  were  given  by  George  W.  Piggott 
and  Frank  M.  Gregory.  Looking  back  so  far  the 
room  seems  to  have  been  mostly  window,  and  the 
Punch  and  Judy  shows  come  back  more  vividly 
to  mind  than  the  more  serious  things  we  did  there. 
This  room  with  the  hole  in  the  wall  was  the  scene 


I  32  ] 


of  the  club's  activities  for  a  year,  and  the  first  of 
the  series  of  Black  and  White  Exhibitions  was 
managed  from  this  room.  It  was  an  event  in  the 
art  world  of  that  day,  an  event  by  which  the 
Salmagundi  Club  emerged  from  obscurity  into 
prominence  —  so  there  was  something  besides 
the  Punch  and  Judy  show  that  came  through  the 
hole  in  the  wall. 

It  appears  from  the  record  that  the  members 
supplied  from  their  studios  various  decorations 
for  the  room,  and  that  Napoleon  Sarony's  contri- 
bution was  a  Swedish  child's  sled  in  many  colors 
which  was  placed  on  the  piano.  One  evening  there 
was  a  contest  in  rapid  chalk  drawing,  for  which 
large  stretchers  of  gray  paper  were  placed  on  ea- 
sels and  five  minutes  were  allowed,  within  which 
time  the  picture  must  be  completed  or  the  work 
abandoned  at  the  fall  of  the  gavel.  M.  J.  Burns, 
H.  P.  Share,  Francis  Murphy,  and  Napoleon 
Sarony  were  among  the  successful  contestants. 
The  quartette  for  the  evening  was  led  by  M.  Gas- 
ton Fuerdent,  who  had  just  thrown  the  whole  art 
world  into  a  ferment  by  his  attack  on  the  Di  Ces- 
nola  Collection  at  the  Metropolitan  Museum.  In 
the  singing  M.  Fuerdent  was  assisted  by  Charles 
Osborne,  Alexander  C.  Morgan,  and  Charles  Har- 


C  33  J 


rison.  A  little  later  Frank  Fowler  was  the  favor- 
ite tenor  of  the  club  quartette  and  Charles  Os- 
borne was  the  deep,  deep  bass. 

In  1879,  while  in  this  room,  the  club  was  com- 
missioned by  "Scribner's  Monthly,"  which  after- 
wards became  the  "Century  Magazine,"  to  illus- 
trate an  article  by  William  H.  Bishop,  entitled 
"Young  Artist  Life  in  New  York." 

There  were  some  curious  propositions  made  to 
the  club  from  time  to  time.  One  sympathetic 
maiden-lady  proposed  to  leave  her  fortune  to  the 
club,  to  be  administered  in  the  interest  of  indi- 
gent artists.  Land  companies  offered  lots  in  the 
country;  authors  applied  to  have  illustrated  serial 
articles  (which  were  not  yet  accepted) ,  proposing 
to  divide  with  the  club  the  large  sums  they  antici- 
pated receiving  from  some  magazine.  There  is 
one  proposition  on  record  from  the  "Century 
Company,"  that  a  new  cover  for  the  "St.  Nicho- 
las" should  be  made  the  subject  of  one  of  the 
club's  weekly  contests.  Nothing,  however,  reads 
more  absurdly,  in  the  light  of  present-day  views, 
than  the  secretary's  record  for  November  12, 
1880,  while  the  club  was  still  in  its  Punch  and 
Judy  room,  showing  that  a  proposition  was  ac- 
tually received  from  the  Metropolitan  Museum 


C  34  1 


to  decorate  one  of  its  rooms  in  black  and  white. 
The  infant  museum  was  then  in  Fourteenth  Street. 

In  the  fall  of  1881  the  club  hired  a  portion  of 
the  large  studio  of  Robert  Minor  in  the  old  Uni- 
versity Building  in  Washington  Square.  The  first 
meeting  of  the  season  was  held  in  the  chapel 
of  the  University,  the  new  room  not  being  ready. 
The  Minor  Studio  was  originally  a  hall  or  class- 
room of  huge  proportions  so  that  when  one  end 
was  screened  off  for  the  club,  an  exceptionally 
large  studio  remained.  The  walls  were  covered 
with  gray  burlap,  and  under  the  high  ceiling,  to- 
gether with  the  other  generous  dimensions  of  the 
room,  there  was  a  new  feeling  of  space  and  free- 
dom and  importance. 

At  this  time  a  revival  of  interest  in  the  art  of 
etching  was  taking  hold  of  the  public  and  of  the 
painters.  It  was  in  the  Minor  Studio  that  Charles 
Volkmar,  the  potter  of  the  club,  who  had  already 
etched  on  copper,  gave  a  series  of  lessons  to  some 
of  his  fellow  members.  The  charm  of  the  first  bit- 
ten line  and  the  initiation  into  the  mysteries  of 
the  use  of  the  blue  and  green  acid  are  pleasantly 
associated  with  this  room  in  the  old  University 
Building  to  more  than  one  painter  who  afterwards 
enjoyed  wide  reputation  as  an  etcher. 


C  35  ] 


An  etching  press  was  set  up,  and  with  the  enthu- 
siasm of  beginners  the  club  exhibited  in  the  fol- 
lowing December  its  first  Annual  Portfolio  of 
Etchings  which  was  also  its  last. 

There  are  other  associations  connected  with 
this  period  in  the  University  Building  which  were 
less  rosy,  for  before  spring  the  club  found  itself 
in  serious  financial  distress.  This  was  a  chronic 
condition,  but  the  case  was  now  more  aggravated 
than  usual  following  the  close  of  the  Third  Exhi- 
bition which  had  left  a  debt  of  nearly  nine  hun- 
dred dollars  in  its  wake.  The  preceding  exhibi- 
tion, it  may  be  mentioned,  had  left  a  deficit  of 
over  seven  hundred  dollars.  The  outlook  was 
gloomy;  there  was  even  talk  of  disbanding  the 
club. 

The  council  of  the  Academy  returned,  how- 
ever, a  hundred  dollars  of  the  rent  and  Mr.  John 
Taylor  Johnston,  who  was  interested  in  the  work 
the  club  was  doing,  sent  his  check  for  fifty  dollars. 
These  were  the  only  offers  of  assistance  that  the 
club  accepted,  but  means  were  found  to  tide  over 
the  difficulties  and  with  commendable  courage 
the  Academy  was  hired  for  another  year. 

The  room  in  the  University  had  to  be  given  up, 
however,  and  the  following  season  began  a  period 


C  36  ] 


of  meetings  in  the  studios  and  at  the  homes  of 
members  which  continued  throughout  the  year. 

During  one  of  the  meetings  at  the  University, 
J.  Scott  Hartley,  the  sculptor,  confided  to  me  that 
he  intended  to  make  a  disastrous  exposure  that 
evening  of  "the  ways  that  were  dark"  as  prac- 
ticed at  a  set  of  seances  then  being  held  by  the 
famous  Eddy  Brothers  in  Eighth  Avenue.  He  was 
a  man  of  peculiarly  matter-of-fact  turn  of  mind, 
and  the  faith  which  some  of  his  friends  reposed  in 
the  manifestations  had  so  irritated  him  that  he 
had  resolved  on  this  course.  A  half-dozen  of  us 
agreed  to  accompany  him  and  witness  the  disas- 
trous exposure. 

It  should  be  stated  here  that  Mr.  Hartley's  father- 
in-law,  George  Inness,  was  a  Swedenborgian,  and 
was  disposed  to  look  leniently  on  the  supernatural, 
and  it  was  after  some  heated  discussions  at  home 
that  Mr.  Hartley  determined  to  treat  Mr.  Inness 
to  a  practical  exposure  of  spiritualistic  fraud. 

So  on  a  certain  winter's  night  our  little  party 
filed  out  of  the  stone  portals  of  the  old  University 
in  time  to  "take  in"  the  entertainment  in  Eighth 
Avenue. 

A  few  of  the  faithful  were  already  assembled 
in  a  second-floor  front  room  over  a  second-class 


C  37  3 


shop.  We  left  our  coats  and  hats  and  half-dollars 
in  the  back  parlor.  The  front  room  had  the  usual 
two  windows  looking  out  upon  the  street,  and  an 
open  door  near  the  left-hand  corner  opening  into 
the  bedroom  at  the  end  of  the  hall.  One  of  the 
guests  was  a  prominent  artist's  model  of  that 
day,  the  wife  of  a  newspaper  reporter,  whom  she 
had  married  during  his*  career  in  London,  and 
whom  we  all  knew. 

The  entertainment  was  divided  into  two  parts, 
the  first  of  which  was  an  exhibition  of  the  fa- 
mous materializations.  The  gas  was  extinguished ; 
a  paper  cylinder  was  placed  over  the  one  kero- 
sene lamp  left  burning  on  the  mantelpiece,  and 
this  luminary,  together  with  the  light  emitted 
through  the  dingy  isinglass  of  the  coal  stove,  sup- 
plied the  dim  religious  twilight  for  the  first  in- 
stallment of  horrors.  We  observed  that  the  faith- 
ful believers  were  assembled  about  the  stove 
opposite  to  the  door  of  the  bedroom  out  of  which 
the  spirits  were  to  come  and  the  strangers,  in- 
cluding ourselves,  occupied  the  other  end  of  the 
room.  All  the  preliminaries  having  been  satis- 
factorily arranged,  the  elder  brother,  who  spoke 
with  a  peculiar  nasal  twang,  came  in  from  his  at- 
tendance on  the  outer  door  and  announced  to  the 


C  38  ] 


company  that,  although  he  was  suffering  from  a 
very  bad  cold,  "s'long  as  so  many  of  the  friends 
were  present,"  he  would  "try  to  do  somethin'  for 
them."  He  then  retired  to  the  bedroom,  taking 
considerable  time  to  dress  for  the  first  male  spook, 
after  which  the  others  continued  to  come  more 
promptly  until  the  turn  of  the  female  spirits  came, 
when  there  was  the  usual  long  wait  incident  to 
the  radical  change  of  costume.  For  my  part  I  was 
ready  enough  to  be  deceived,  but  the  nasal  drawl 
of  every  ghost  robbed  the  entertainment  of  all 
illusion.  Strangely  enough,  this  peculiarity  was 
not  noticed  by  the  believers,  who  several  times 
announced  that  the  manifestation  was  for  them. 
Once  the  mysterious  visitor  was  a  child,  and  in 
this  case  the  attempt  at  illusion  consisted  of  a 
child's  dress  draped  around  the  medium's  leg 
below  the  knee  and  pushed  out  of  the  bedroom 
door. 

After  this  performance  there  was  a  short  re- 
cess, during  which  the  faithful  discussed  the 
manifestations  with  bated  breath,  after  which  the 
entertainment  continued  with  a  variety  perform- 
ance in  the  full  light.  Across  one  corner  of  the 
room  a  blanket  was  stretched  from  the  bedroom 
door  to  the  pier  glass  and  from  behind  this  we 


C  39  ] 


were  treated  to  doleful  music  from  a  variety  of 
musical  instruments.  When  the  music  from  the 
violin  was  sounding  softly  from  behind  the  cur- 
tain, the  neck  of  the  instrument  now  and  then 
floating  into  view  above  that  barrier,  our  skep- 
tical sculptor,  with  the  spring  of  a  panther, 
darted  across  the  room  and  under  the  folds  of 
the  blanket.  I  only  remember  that  he  failed  to 
find  the  human  agent  he  had  expected  to  en- 
counter, and  his  action  only  excited  the  indigna- 
tion of  the  performers  and  the  believers. 

We  must  have  returned  at  this  time,  after  leav- 
ing the  Minor  Studio,  to  the  original  mixed  drink 
of  the  club,  for  we  learned,  during  our  wanderings 
among  houses  and  studios,  where  the  wives  of  the 
members  made  chocolate  thin  and  where  they  made 
it  thick. 

At  some  of  the  meetings  in  the  studios  there 
were  models,  draped  or  nude,  and  the  evening  was 
devoted  to  serious  study.  On  one  occasion  a  pro- 
fessional model  then  much  in  vogue  among  the 
military  painters  took  the  stand  in  the  uniform 
of  a  Zouave  of  '61.  The  pose  was  a  difficult  one, 
with  the  heavy  gun  at 44  charge  bayonet,"  and  the 
figure  poised  forward  in  action  suitable  to  that 


I  40  D 

command.  Some  question  of  his  endurance  had 
put  the  man  on  his  mettle  and  when  rest  was 
called  he  declined  to  sit  down.  In  short,  he  set 
his  teeth  and  his  muscles  in  a  supreme  effort  to 
break  the  record  for  holding  a  difficult  pose.  He 
was  in  the  presence  of  some  of  his  chief  patrons, 
and  the  race  of  endurance  against  time  contin- 
ued until  his  face  became  white  like  chalk  and 
his  muscles  so  set  that  he  had  to  be  taken  down 
and  straightened  out  like  an  automaton. 

On  another  occasion  the  club  was  treated  to 
a  different  pose  after  the  business  meeting  was 
over.  It  was  in  the  studio  of  a  landscape  painter, 
and  one  end  of  the  fine  room  was  centered  on  a 
heavy  gold  frame  from  which  a  six-foot  upright 
canvas  had  been  removed.  In  front  of  this  frame 
stood  the  softly  carpeted  model  stand  and  dra- 
peries were  in  the  frame  for  a  background.  * 

"Be  seated  gentlemen/'  said  the  landscape 
painter,  "and  have  your  working  materials  at 
hand,  for  I  am  going  to  give  you  a  little  surprise 
this  evening.  With  that  he  turned  the  studio  re- 
flector full  on  the  tall  gold  frame  and,  drawing 
the  silken  draperies  aside,  there  tripped  through 
the  opening  and  out  upon  the  red  carpet  the 
daintiest  model  that  ever  was  seen,  affording 


Z  41  1 


possibly  the  very  first  of  what  have  since  been 
called  living  pictures. 

During  its  migratory  days  and  its  days  of 
small  rooms,  the  club  met  on  special  occasions 
in  the  great  reception-room  at  Sarony's  Photo- 
graph Gallery  on  Union  Square.  It  was  the  same 
room  in  which  the  Tile  Club  long  held  its  meet- 
ings and  painted  plaques  and  told  rare  stories. 
This  room,  one  flight  up,  contained  the  little 
photographer's  collections  of  bric-a-brac  and  cu- 
rios. At  a  club  smoker  we  welcomed  our  guests 
among  Russian  sleighs,  Egyptian  mummies,  In- 
dian pottery,  Japanese  armor,  mediaeval  arms 
and  groups  of  statuary  and  eastern  draperies. 
At  one  of  these  receptions  the  invitations  were 
printed  on  the  top  and  bottom  of  sheets  of  What- 
man paper,  leaving  a  space  between  for  a  drawing 
by  a  member  of  the  club,  like  the  drawing  made 
by  Napoleon  Sarony  on  the  invitation  to  George 
Inness.  Two  hundred  of  these  elaborate  invita- 
tions were  decorated  and  signed  by  members. 
The  Tile  Club  at  work  could  be  seated  around 
a  long  table  at  one  end  of  the  room,  but  on  these 
great  occasions  the  Salmagundians  occupied  the 
whole  floor  and  Chinese  gods  of  many  colors  and 
grinning  crocodiles  looked  down  from  wall  and 


i  42  n 


ceiling,  through  wreaths  of  blue  smoke,  on  the 
revelers,  among  whom  the  little  photographer 
himself  was  chief  mountebank  as  well  as  hospit- 
able host.  He  usually  entered  the  room  at  a 
crouching  walk,  by  which  he  reduced  his  height 
to  a  matter  of  three  feet  and  often  with  his  wig 
in  his  hand  or  cocked  forward  on  his  nose.  It 
was  not  an  uncommon  ceremony  to  pick  him  up 
and  pass  him  around  as  if  he  were  a  piece  of 
animated  bric-a-brac.  One  summer  night  at  the 
Gregory  Studio  in  Washington  Square,  which  was 
on  the  ground  floor  of  the  Benedict,  the  little 
man  became  so  angry  upon  the  rejection  of  a  can- 
didate he  had  proposed  that  he  made  an  abrupt 
departure  by  the  window  instead  of  by  the  door 
and  was  not  seen  again  for  months. 

These  receptions  given  by  the  Salmagundi 
Club  were  notable  events  in  the  art  year  and 
shared  the  honors  with  the  annual  reception  of 
the  Water-Color  Society  at  the  Academy.  F.  Hop- 
kinson  Smith,  before  he  was  known  to  fame, 
and  Colonel  Ke-arter,  before  that  delightful  old 
Southern  gentleman  was  amplified  almost  beyond 
recognition  by  his  old  friends  in  the  Salmagundi 
and  the  Tile  Clubs,  were  always  jointly  on  tap. 

The  Colonel,  at  that  time,  had  developed  no 


In  hoc  eft  hoax,  cvm  qviz  et  jokefez, 
Et  finokem,  toaftem,  roaftem  folkfez. 
Fee,  &W,  firm.  Psalmanazar. 
With  baked,  and.bioil'd,  and  ftew'd  and  toaft'd, 
And  fried  and  boil'd,  and  fraok'd  and  roaft'd* 
We  treat  the  town. 


The  Salmagundi  Sketch  Club 

wili  be 

pleased  to  receive  you 

Friday  Eve.,  Dec.  17th,  l88o, 
8.3O  o'clock. 


3  7  Union  Square. 

SARONY'S  INVITATION  TO  GEORGE  INNESS 


C  43  3 


relatives  whatever,  and  besides  himself,  the  only 
characters  in  the  story  were  his  factor  at  New  Or- 
leans, who  had  failed  to  forward  his  remittance, 
which  was  an  advance  on  the  next  year's  cotton 
crop,  and  the  damned  Yankee  postmaster  who, 
under  those  trying  circumstances,  actually  re- 
fused to  lend  the  Colonel  the  loan  of  a  postage 
stamp.  In  his  honest  indignation  the  Colonel  be- 
lieved that  he  was  perfectly  justified  in  shooting 
the  postmaster. 

Ned  Abbey,  with  smiling  white  teeth,  and  Ar- 
thur Quartley,  in  a  Japanese  grass  skull-cap,  and 
Stanley  Reinhart  and  Theodore  Robinson  were 
usually  to  be  found  in  the  throng  of  smokers. 

The  Fourth  Exhibition,  in  1882,  which  was  con- 
ducted while  the  club  was  still  on  its  migrations, 
was  the  first  financial  success,  it  actually  leaving  a 
balance  on  the  right  side  of  the  ledger  of  $253.61. 
With  this  encouragement  the  club  gave  up  its 
wanderings,  and,  in  the  fall  of  1884,  the  meetings 
began  in  the  studio  of  the  secretary,  Frank  M. 
Gregory,  in  the  Benedict,  Washington  Square, 
which  continued  to  be  the  headquarters  of  the 
club  until  the  Annual  Black  and  White  Exhi- 
bitions came  to  an  end  in  1887.  Mr.  Gregory's 
studio  was  in  the  room  on  the  ground  floor  of  the 


C  44  ] 


building,  at  the  right  as  one  enters  and  opposite 
to  the  office.  This  studio  in  the  Benedict  is  the 
only  meeting-place  of  the  Salmagundi  Club  dur- 
ing the  twenty-four  years  of  its  wanderings,  be- 
fore settling  in  Twelfth  Street,  that  remains  as  it 
was  when  the  club  occupied  it.  Elsewhere  the 
buildings  have  been  torn  down  or  the  old  club 
quarters  have  been  altered  beyond  recognition. 

The  club  dues  had  always  been  low,  and  there 
was  a  time  in  its  early  history  when  the  monthly 
fee  was  fifty  cents,  and  that  not  for  a  year,  but 
for  the  "season,"  which  meant  for  the  period 
when  meetings  were  held,  with  no  fees  for  three 
or  four  months  when  the  members  were  supposed 
to  be  in  the  country.  The  following  circular,  is- 
sued to  the  members  by  the  treasurer  during  the 
second  year  in  the  Gregory  Studio,  which  was  the 
year  of  the  Seventh  Black  and  White  Exhibi- 
tion, a  public  function  involving  heavy  expendi- 
ture and  usually  resulting  in  a  considerable  loss, 
shows  how  pitifully  inadequate  the  income  of  the 
club  was  for  the  business  in  hand.  The  circular 
speaks  for  itself : 

"November  10th,  1885 

"At  a  meeting  of  the  Salmagundi  Club,  held 
November  6th,  the  question  of  finances  was  dis- 


t  45  3 


cussed  at  length  and  it  was  decided  to  raise  the 
dues,  as  the  present  receipts  would  hot  cover  ex- 
penses, including  rent. 
"  It  was  resolved:  — 

"That  the  dues  be  raised  from  $7.00  to  $10.00 
for  the  season,  but  if  paid  before  January  1st, 
1886,  $8.00  would  be  received  in  full  payment  of 
members'  dues;  also  that  there  was  to  be  no  fur- 
ther collections  for  beer,  etc.  which  was  to  be  pro- 
vided by  the  club. 

"Respectfully 

"A.  C.  Morgan 

"Treasurer" 

From  1879  to  1887  the  Salmagundi  Sketch  Club 
had  a  national,  even  an  international,  reputation 
through  its  annual  exhibitions  of  Black  and  White 
art.  These  exhibitions  were  open  to  all  exhibitors 
(the  exhibits  passing  before  a  jury  of  club  mem- 
bers) and  were  always  announced  as  "Under  the 
Auspices  of  the  Salmagundi  Sketch  Club."  The 
exhibition  which  was  held  at  the  Kurtz  Galleries 
in  the  winter  of  1879  was  the  first  of  the  series  of 
such  exhibitions  that  gave  the  club  its  wide  repu- 
tation as  the  Black  and  White  Society.  The  pub- 
lishers took  an  immediate  interest,  showing  the 


C  46  D 


original  drawings  from  which  recent  illustrations 
had  been  made.  The  "ScribnerV  collection,  in 
that  year,  was  numbered  together  from  94  to  127, 
and  the  exhibits  of  the  "Daily  Graphic,"  from  151 
to  159. 

In  1880, 1881,  and  1882,  these  exhibitions  were 
held  in  the  Academy  of  Design  as  were  those  of 
the  American  Water-Color  Society.  In  1883  the 
exhibition  was  at  the  galleries  of  the  American 
Art  Association  (formerly  Kurtz),  and  again  in 
1884  at  the  Academy.  The  public,  by  this  time, 
seemed  to  have  lost  somewhat  of  its  interest  in 
black  and  white  exhibitions,  but  the  club,  usually 
at  a  loss,  continued  to  struggle  on  in  the  discharge 
of  its  self-imposed  public  duty.  In  1886  and  1887 
it  had  returned  to  the  American  Galleries  to  join 
hands  with  the  Architectural  League  in  those  two 
years,  which  stand  as  the  first  and  second  exhi- 
bitions of  that  flourishing  society.  Thus,  as  the 
Salmagundi  Sketch  Club  retired  from  the  exhibi- 
tion field,  it  had  the  honor  of  introducing  to  the 
public  a  sturdy  young  organization  which  con- 
tinues to  provide  one  of  the  annual  exhibitions  to 
a  public  vastly  more  critical. 

The  magazine  publishers  had  taken  a  lively  in- 
terest in  these  black  and  white  exhibitions  from 


C  47  3 


the  first,  the  "Century,"  "Harper's,"  and  "Scrib- 
ner's"  being  always  represented  by  a  large  num- 
ber of  their  best  drawings,  framed  and  exhibited 
by  themselves.  One  year  at  the  Academy  there 
was  a  particularly  fine  collection  sent  over  by  the 
London  "Graphic,"  consisting  of  the  drawings  of 
C.  Green,  Hubert  Herkomer,  Luke  Fildes,  Frank 
Holl,  A.  B.  Houghton,  and  others  who  were  the 
leading  English  illustrators.  By  this  means  the 
public  was  able  to  meet  face  to  face,  as  old  friends, 
the  original  drawings  with  which  they  were  al- 
ready familiar  through  smaller  engravings  in  the 
magazines  and  illustrated  papers. 

The  Exhibition  of  1880  was  especially  interest- 
ing by  reason  of  a  number  of  cases  illustrating  the 
various  methods  contributing  to  the  reproduction 
of  these  drawings.  In  Case  A  were  all  the  tools  of 
a  wood  engraver  with  underlays  and  everything 
to  show  how  a  fine  woodcut  was  printed  for  the 
magazines.  Case  B  contained  copper  plates  in  va- 
rious states  of  preparation  for  the  needle,  etching 
tools,  and  proofs  arranged  by  Charles  Volkmar. 
Case  C  illustrated  the  method  of  producing  a  lith- 
ograph, and  was  equipped  by  E.  A.  Thomas,  and 
Case  D  was  an  exhibit  of  their  new  process  by  the 
Photo  Engraving  Company  of  67  Park  Place. 


C  48  } 


It  is  interesting,  in  retrospect,  to  note  the  fact 
that  the  innocent  exhibit  in  Case  D  contained  the 
seed  of  the  downfall  of  these  very  exhibitions.  At 
first  the  drawings  in  black  and  white  had  sold  at 
good  prices,  but  year  after  year,  as  the  methods  of 
reproduction  were  perfected,  the  sales  diminished, 
and  when  the  art  of  photogravure  made  it  pos- 
sible to  sell  copies  in  black  and  white  of  the  finest 
paintings  at  a  price  for  which  original  drawings 
could  not  be  made,  the  exhibitions  were  no  longer 
possible. 

Another  exhibit  in  that  year  was  a  fireplace  de- 
signed and  executed  by  the  club  in  Limoges  tiles, 
under  the  direction  of  Charles  Volkmar.  The 
work  was  done  in  the  Punch  and  Judy  room  at 
896  Broadway.  It  was  the  maiden  effort  of  the 
Salmagundi  Club  in  crockery  painting. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  SALMAGUNDI  SKETCH  CLASS  BECOMES 
A  CLUB 

During  the  exhibition  period  the  membership  of 
the  organization  had  doubled,  increasing  from 
thirty-one  to  sixty-five,  which  was  a  natural  re- 
sult in  a  society  earnestly  engaged  in  a  public 
work.  When,  however,  the  exhibition  of  1887 
closed  its  doors,  the  mission  of  the  Salmagundi 
was  at  an  end.  It  had  existed  as  Sketch  Class 
and  Black  and  White  Society  for  sixteen  years. 
Its  membership  had  been  strictly  a  professional 
one,  but  was  largely  outside  the  virile  element 
that  was  shaping  the  future  of  American  art. 

By  this  time  the  early  custom  of  illustrating  a 
subject  had  gradually  gone  out  of  vogue  under 
the  stress  of  work  entailed  upon  the  members  dur- 
ing the  exhibition  period.  Unsuccessful  attempts 
were  periodically  made  to  revive  that  original 
and  pleasant  feature.  When  the  exhibitions  also 
came  to  an  end,  there  seemed  to  be  nothing  else 
for  the  Salmagundians  to  do  but  to  become  a  club 
on  social  lines.  So  in  January,  1888,  after  a  period 


C  so  3 


of  three  months  of  house-hunting  by  committees, 
a  floor  was  taken  at  123  Fifth  Avenue. 

During  those  three  months  of  agitation  and 
special  meetings  a  great  number  of  locations  were 
considered.  Dr.  White,  of  the  Berkeley  Lyceum, 
offered  a  large  hall  for  the  monthly  meeting  of  the 
club. 

A  proposal  came  from  Manager  Sedelmayer, 
who  was  then  exhibiting  Munkacsy's  "Christ  be- 
fore Pilate"  at  the  Tabernacle  on  Twenty-third 
Street,  to  rent  to  the  club  the  space  behind  the 
canvas.  This  space  was  the  great  stage,  which 
had  been  prepared  for  the  Passion  Play,  to  have 
been  brought  from  Oberammergau,  and  it  was 
the  back  part  of  the  stage  that  the  club  was  of- 
fered on  condition  that  the  members  should  ab- 
stain from  smoking. 

George  W.  Maynard  was  president  of  the  club 
at  this  time,  having  succeeded  the  long  presidency 
of  Joseph  Hartley,  and  H.  W.  Ranger  was  vice- 
president.  Mr.  Ranger  was  a  persistent  advocate 
of  keeping  the  club  Bohemian  and  took  the  floor 
on  every  opportunity  to  oppose  any  movement  in 
the  direction  of  what  he  called  "boiled  shirts  and 
silk  stockings."  If  the  club  had  any  well-defined 
ambition  it  was  to  be  the  art  club  of  New  York. 


I  51  1 

It  had  no  rival  in  sight,  but  it  had  been  con- 
ceived in  Bohemia  and  certain  influences  that  had 
controlled  its  policy  from  the  beginning  seemed 
determined  to  keep  it  there. 

The  transition  from  a  working  society  to  a  so- 
cial club,  marked  by  the  opening  of  the  new  quar- 
ters at  123  Fifth  Avenue,  was  a  first-class  event 
in  the  history  of  the  organization.  It  was  cele- 
brated by  a  house-warming  of  the  good  old-fash- 
ioned sort,  at  which  H.  W.  Ranger  was  master  of 
ceremonies.  The  festivities  began  on  the  evening 
of  the  13th  of  January  and  the  following  account 
of  what  took  place  was  published  in  the  New 
York  "Sun"  the  next  morning.  If  a  little  exag- 
gerated in  its  statements,  it  evidently  reeks  with 
the  atmosphere  of  the  occasion: 

"Smoke  was  pouring  out  of  all  the  doors  of  the 
second  story  of  123  Fifth  Avenue  in  such  volumes 
last  night  that  had  the  street  windows  been  open 
there  would  have  been  an  alarm  of  fire.  But  it 
was  all  from  cigars  and  pipes  —  the  first  pipes 
seen  on  Fifth  Avenue.  There  was,  also,  the  first 
beer-keg  ever  introduced  into  a  Fifth  Avenue 
domicile.  It  stood  at  the  head  of  the  stairs  until 
it  was  wanted  and  then  it  rolled  into  "the  front- 


I  52  3 


hall  room  and  emptied  itself  into  a  hundred  stone 
mugs.  These  were  the  outward  and  visible  signs 
of  the  house-warming  of  the  Salmagundi  Club 
which  had  removed  in  December  from  its  small 
quarters  on  Washington  Square  to  this  big  and 
stylish  building. 

"Almost  every  inch  of  the  new  quarters  was 
decorated,  and  it  would  amuse  a  millionaire  to  see 
what  far  prettier  effects  true  artists  caught  with 
a  few  bits  of  colored  muslin  and  a  number  of  un- 
framed  pictures  than  money  or  the  most  elabor- 
ate efforts  can  reach.  A  fish  net  over  one  door- 
way and  a  few  yards  of  red  calico,  caught  up  and 
decked  with  a  brass  cuspidor  in  the  middle,  over 
another  arch,  transformed  rude  rooms  into  bow- 
ers of  taste.  Just  as  simple  and  peculiar  were  all 
the  decorations,  and  yet  the  rooms  were  as  at- 
tractive as  the  saloons  of  a  palace. 

"Everybody  in  the  art  world  was  there,  for 
though  half  the  Salmagundi  Club  opposed  the 
idea  of  branching  out  in  Fifth  Avenue,  all  now 
think  the  idea  was  excellent.  Every  member 
smoked  a  cigarette  an  inch  thick  and  nine  inches 
long,  drank  out  of  those  mugs,  and  ate  Roque- 
fort cheese,  sausages,  pickles,  olives,  and  sand- 
wiches. 


C  53  ] 


"Among  those  who  were  present  were  Mr. 
Perry,  of  'ScribnerV;  Mr.  A.  W.  Drake  and  Mr. 
Fraser,  of  the  *  Century ' ;  E.  W.  Kemble  the  char- 
acter artist,  who  misses  his  train  whenever  he 
runs  across  a  queer  character  worth  sketching 
in  the  street;  George  Fawcett  Howe,  the  actor 
and  playwright;  J.  C.  Johnston,  of  the  Bowery; 
Mr.  Ritchie,  the  steel  engraver  and  chief  wit  of 
the  club;  H.  W.  Ranger,  the  master  of  ceremonies 
last  night,  and  at  other  times  a  landscape  painter; 
Charles  Volkmar,  the  landscape  painter,  and,  his 
confrere,  Bruce  Crane;  Joseph  Lauber,  the  secre- 
tary; George  Inness,  Jr.;  C.  Jay  Taylor,  of  'Puck,' 
whose  society  sketches  include  the  best  tailor- 
made  girls  in  town ;  Charles  Graham,  the  scenic  art- 
ist of  'Harper's';  Thulstrup,  the  soldier  draughts- 
man of  the  same  establishment;  John  Durkin,  the 
all-round  draughtsman;  and  many  more  than  a 
hundred  others." 

According  to  the  "Sun"  — 

"By  far  the  best  fun  of  the  evening  was  afforded 
by  a  trio  of  the  wildest  red  Indians  that  ever  came 
to  town.  They  performed  the  scalp-dance,  medi- 
cine act,  and  the  Indian  visit,  and  the  parts  of 
them  that  were  not  naked  and  smeared  with 
paint  were  hung  with  the  most  showy  Indian  brie- 


I  54  D 


a-brac  and  costumes  that  Sarony  has  been  able 
to  collect  in  a  dozen  years.  The  Chief  'Not  Afraid 
of  Fire  Water '  was  portrayed  by  Charles  Graham, 
the  young  brave  'Dancing  Bull'  was  E.  W.  Kem- 
ble,  and  the  dusky  squaw,  'Laughing  Bourbon' 
was  John  Durkin.  They  made  the  whole  club 
roar  with  laughter.  After  that,  it  was  rumored 
that  Walter  Pelham,  of  the  Savage  Club,  Lon- 
don, knew  a  lot  of  funny  stories.  He  achieved  a 
tremendous  reputation  as  a  story  collector,  but 
towards  morning  it  was  noticed  that  whenever  he 
was  called  upon  for  a  story,  he  remarked  that  he 
'knew  a  jolly  lot,'  but  that  'Barnard  can  tell  them 
better  than  L'  F.  E.  Barnard,  therefore,  told  all 
of  Pelham's  stories  —  the  same  droll  Barnard 
whose  fame  rests  on  his  illustrations  of  Dickens's 
and  Thackeray's  characters." 

In  the  fall  of  1888  the  club  shifted  its  quarters 
into  the  adjoining  building,  121  Fifth  Avenue, 
adopting  the  Wallace  Restaurant,  which  was  on 
the  ground  floor,  as  the  restaurant  of  the  club. 
The  regular  dinner,  which  was  a  dollar  to  other 
patrons,  was  seventy-five  cents  to  members  of 
the  club,  who  were  seldom  seen  at  the  Wallace 
tables. 

One  advantage  of  these  frequent  moves  was 


c:  55  3 


the  numerous  opportunities  for  house-warmings 
which  were  attended  with  high-jinks  of  the  Latin 
Quarter  order  and  of  the  sort  that  poor  students 
with  abundant  skill  in  decoration  knew  how  to 
make  attractive.  However  humble  the  rooms  a 
few  soft-toned  draperies  from  the  studios,  an  an- 
tique lamp,  a  rug  for  a  note  of  color  made  any  in- 
terior charming.  If  a  brass  cuspidor  fitted  into 
the  tone  of  a  piece  of  old  tapestry  better  than  a 
Benares  plaque,  up  went  the  cuspidor.  After  the 
house-warmings  came  receptions  and  smokers  ex- 
tending far  into  the  small  hours,  when  the  vaude- 
ville programme  began  with  members  and  con- 
tinued with  the  stunts  of  actors  who  dropped  in 
after  the  theater. 

It  was  at  121  Fifth  Avenue  that  a  reception  and 
supper  were  given  to  Ned  Abbey  on  one  of  his 
returns  from  London,  when  he  was  supported  by 
F.  Hopkinson  Smith  and  Stanley  Reinhart.  He 
was  supported  only  in  the  sense  of  encouragement 
to  make  his  after-dinner  speech,  an  ordeal  through 
which  he  could  smile  gracefully,  but  one  of  which 
he  had  a  peculiar  dread. 

The  Abbey  reception  was  on  the  evening  of  the 
17th  of  January,  1890,  and  the  following  is  from 
the  New  York  "World"  in  its  morning  issue: 


C  56  3 


"There  was  a  large  and  merry  gathering  of  art- 
ists and  patrons  and  lovers  of  art  at  the  rooms  of 
the  Salmagundi  Club,  No.  121  Fifth  Avenue,  last 
evening,  assembled  by  invitation  of  the  club  to 
meet  and  greet  the  artist  Edwin  A.  Abbey,  who 
recently  returned  from  abroad  after  a  long  stay. 

"The  walls  of  the  club  parlor  were  hung  with 
sketches  in  black  and  white,  mostly  of  a  humor- 
ous nature,  especially  executed  in  honor  of  the  oc- 
casion. Those  which  excited  the  most  merriment 
were  a  travesty  on  the  'Angelus'  by  W.  H.  Shel- 
ton,  and  a  clever  imitation  of  Turner,  done  in  oil 
on  a  round  panel  by  Thomas  Moran.  The  Ange- 
lus  travesty  depicted  the  peasants  both  smoking, 
real  patches  sewn  on  the  man's  garments,  real 
potato  skins  in  the  basket,  and  a  real  safety  pin 
fastening  the  woman's  skirt.  The  inscription  on  the 
Turner  read,  'Bought  by  an  American  million- 
aire from  a  needy  English  Duke  for  $291,000.75, 
painted  by  Jim  Jam  M.  W.  Turner.'" 

The  "New  York  Herald"  said:  "Among  the 
entertainment  features  were  capital  recitations 
by  E.  W.  Kemble  and  Mr.  Varnum,  and  piano 
solos  by  Messrs.  Edgar  S.  Kelly  and  Wallace 
Sawyer.  A  hand  organ  with  its  natural  guardian 
was  a  feature,  and  Alexander  Schilling,  in  the  ab- 


C  57  ] 


sence  of  Mayor  Grant,  ground  music  out  of  it  dur- 
ing a  tour  of  the  room,  while  E.  W.  Kemble  acted 
as  monkey  and  J.  W.  Champney  as  his  guardian." 

Mr.  Abbey  had  been  made  an  honorary  mem- 
ber of  the  club  in  1884.  No  special  reason  for  this 
action  appears  in  the  record,  but  it  was  appar- 
ently a  cordial  appreciation  of  his  genius,  which 
had  been  universally  conceded  among  the  artists 
almost  from  his  first  appearance  at  "Harper's." 
Only  the  year  before  this  reception  the  club  in  its 
Annual  Black  and  White  Exhibition  had  exhibited 
his  original  drawings,  seventy-one  in  number,  for 
Goldsmith's  comedy,  "She  Stoops  to  Conquer." 
The  collection  occupied  an  entire  gallery.  Every 
member  of  the  club  felt  a  personal  pride  in  his 
success,  and  some  of  us  knew  his  methods  through 
watching  him  at  his  easel,  which  never  in  the  least 
disconcerted  him. 

I  think  it  was  after  my  return  from  spending 
the  summer  of  1879  with  the  Reinharts  at  Green- 
wich, Connecticut,  that  I  was  invited  to  take 
Abbey's  place  in  the  studio,  which  he  was  leaving 
for  more  spacious  and  handsomer  quarters  in  the 
old  University  Building  in  Washington  Square. 

The  big,  three-part  studio  he  was  leaving,  on 
the  upper  floor  of  the  old  National  Academy 


c  58  n 


Building  in  Thirteenth  Street,  when  occupied  by 
Abbey,  Reinhart,  and  Bleecker  Mitchill,  was  dU 
vided  along  the  front  into  three  window-stalls 
after  the  style  of  the  draughtsmen's  room  at 
"Harper's."  Reinhart  occupied  the  west  or  left- 
hand  stall,  as  one  entered  the  door,  and  Abbey 
occupied  the  east  stall,  with  Bleecker  Mitchill  in 
the  stall  between.  Mitchill  was  a  man  of  indepen- 
dent means,  who  painted  very  well  and  who  was 
devoted  to  Reinhart.  He  loved  above  all  things 
to  tinker  the  locks  or  do  little  jobs  of  carpen- 
tering. Abbey  left  a  carved  oak  table  behind, 
which  I  bought  from  him.  This  table  had  had 
sections  of  its  four  legs  sawed  off  on  some  occa- 
sion of  moving,  but  the  table  remained  movable 
and  usable  probably  through  some  deft  joiner 
work  of  Bleecker  Mitchill. 

Abbey  often  dropped  in  to  see  us,  for  he  was  a 
social  soul  if  ever  there  was  one,  and  he  found  it 
lonely  in  his  big  studio,  with  the  great  cathedral 
window  looking  into  space.  He  felt  lost  in  its 
vastness,  and  homesick  for  the  company  he  had 
left. 

I  remember  how  he  happened  in  one  evening 
when  I  was  going  to  a  wooden  wedding.  My  pres- 
ent was  to  be  an  animated  tree  with  one  little 


1 59  n 


fruit  hanging  from  a  limb,  representing  the  only 
daughter  of  the  house,  and  as  the  time  grew  short 
I  had  got  nervous  over  the  little  lady's  face.  With 
Abbey's  help  it  was  soon  made  satisfactory  and 
we  put  it  into  its  frame. 

At  the  back  of  this  studio  of  three  stalls  there 
was  a  great  space  for  easel  work  and  for  posing 
models.  It  was  no  unusual  thing,  of  a  morning, 
for  Ned  Abbey  to  burst  in,  smiling  through  his 
white  teeth,  with  his  working  kit  under  his 
arm  and  his  model  behind  him,  in  search  of  a  so- 
cial atmosphere.  He  would  borrow  an  easel  (he 
would  borrow  anything  or  lend  anything)  and  if 
the  morning  was  cold  he  would  select  a  place 
close  to  the  tall  coal  stove,  where  he  could  get  the 
light  from  Reinhart's  window.  The  open  space 
was  more  or  less  crowded  with  spinning-wheels, 
hair  trunks  studded  with  brass  nails,  and  band- 
boxes covered  with  ancient  wall-paper.  Studio 
properties  were  never  much  in  Abbey's  way,  for 
he  was  so  near-sighted  that  he  posed  his  model, 
as  one  might  say,  at  the  end  of  his  mahlstick.  If 
he  needed  extra  space  for  anything  it  was  for  the 
breakdown  in  which  he  frequently  indulged  while 
his  model  rested,  and  it  was  not  required  that  the 
drawing  should  be  perfectly  satisfactory  to  impel 


I  60  ] 


the  dance.  The  gray  French  paper  he  worked  on 
was  usually  swollen  into  hills  and  valleys  from 
the  freedom  of  his  washes,  and  in  the  long  waits, 
while  the  paper  straightened  into  form,  he  di- 
vided his  time  between  chaffing  his  model  and 
chaffing  his  friend  Reinhart,  who  was  drawing  on 
boxwood  in  his  stall. 

On  the  1st  of  May,  1890,  the  club  moved  to  the 
parlor  floor  of  the  dwelling-house  at  49  West 
Twenty-second  Street,  where  it  remained  for  two 
years.  The  rent  was  twelve  hundred  dollars  and 
the  rooms  were  three  in  number,  a  large  rear  par- 
lor used  as  a  meeting-room,  a  middle  room  which 
was  the  entrance  room  from  the  hall  and  used  as 
a  card-room,  and  a  small  front  room  which  was 
used  as  a  reading-room  and  library.  F.  K.  M. 
Rehn  was  the  chairman  of  the  house  committee 
and  made  the  first  purchase  of  furniture  for  the 
club,  some  of  which,  the  oak  chairs  and  settees, 
are  still  in  use  in  1918.  A  social  meeting  was  called 
for  May  9,  to  get  together  as  many  as  possible  of 
the  members  to  see  the  new  quarters,  but  the 
grand  house-warming  was  deferred  until  fall. 
That  event  took  place  on  the  evening  of  Friday, 
November  21,  and  the  guests  were  bidden  on  a 


C  61  ] 


pictured  card  drawn  by  Frank  Green,  showing  a 
punch-bowl  and  pipes  and  a  boy  in  short  clothes 
bowing  them  welcome  to  "A  house  warming  to 
ye  profession  only,  at  club  house,  &c."  The  next 
morning  nearly  all  the  papers  described  the  fes- 
tivities. 

The  following  is  from  the  "Herald": 

"The  new  and  most  attractive  rooms  at  49  West 
22d  Street  of  the  flourishing  organization  of  art- 
ists, the  Salmagundi  Club,  were  crowded  last 
evening  at  a  '  Goode  olde  house  warming  to  the 
profession  only.'  It  was  chiefly  a  social  affair  in 
which  pipes  and  beer  played  principal  parts,  but 
there  were  also  some  loaned  art  works  in  addition 
to  those  usually  in  the  club  and  a  much-enjoyed 
musical  and  literary  entertainment. 

"Among  those  who  sang  were  Messrs.  Harry 
Pepper  and  Victor  Daugon.  Messrs.  Charles 
Battell  Loomis,  Rutherford  Ashleigh,  and  John 
E.  Ince  recited.  Mr.  Mannes  played  on  the  violin 
and  his  string  quartet  were  also  heard,  as  was 
the  Mandolin  Club." 

The  "World"  added  the  statement:  "It  was 
early  in  the  morning  hours  before  the  house  was 
voted  to  be  sufficiently  warmed." 

To  give  a  dinner  at  that  time  was  altogether 


C  62  ] 


out  of  the  common,  for  it  had  to  be  served  by  a 
caterer  from  outside  and  the  problem  was  diffi- 
cult. A  year  later  on  Friday,  November  20, 1891, 
a  dinner  was  announced  to  be  served  in  the  club 
quarters,  in  the  following  words: 

"Dear  Sir :  On  Friday  evening,  November  20th, 
it  is  proposed  to  have  a  dinner  at  the  club-rooms 
for  members  only  ["and  friends"  was  written  in]. 
Should  you  wish  to  be  present  a  place  at  table 
will  be  assigned  to  you  on  payment  of  One  Dollar 
to  the  steward  Mr.  Hugo  Brown,  at  the  club- 
rooms  or  to  any  member  of  the  committee,  not  la- 
ter than  Saturday  evening,  November  14th.  Din- 
ner will  be  served  at  seven  o'clock. 

"  Hoping  to  have  the  pleasure  of  your  company, 

"Yours  truly 

"  H.  P.  Smith,  Chairman 
"  W.  H.  Shelton, 
"A.  C.  Morgan, 
"H.  W.  Ranger, 
"W.  H.  Drake, 
"C.  E.  Proctor, 

This  is  the  first  mention  to  be  found  of  Hugo 
Braun  or  Brown,  who  was  the  first  steward  of  the 
club.  He  probably  began  his  service  during  the 
second  summer  at  No.  49.  In  an  old  book  of  bar 


Committee." 


C  63  3 


accounts  for  1891,  his  handwriting  appears  in 
June  of  that  year. 

In  May,  1892,  the  club  leased  the  second  floor 
of  the  building  at  40  West  Twenty-second  Street 
at  an  annual  rental  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars. 
The  lease  was  for  two  years  with  privilege  of  re- 
newal for  two  years  at  same  rate.  It  may  be  men- 
tioned here  that  the  rent  of  the  floor  at  123  Fifth 
Avenue  had  been  nine  hundred  dollars,  at  121, 
over  Wallace's  restaurant,  fifteen  hundred  dol- 
lars, and  on  the  north  side  of  Twenty-second 
Street,  twelve  hundred  dollars. 

At  that  time  the  club  kept  but  one  employee, 
and  during  the  entire  period,  nearly  five  years  in 
Twenty-second  Street,  the  steward  was  the  be- 
fore-mentioned Hugo  Brown.  He  enjoyed  and 
deserved  the  fullest  confidence  of  the  members. 
That  he  had  seen  better  days  was  evident,  and  it 
was  believed  that  he  had  left  the  German  army 
and  his  home  country  through  having  declined  to 
fight  or  in  some  way  avoided  a  duel.  Whatever 
the  trouble  may  have  been,  he  brooded  over  it 
until,  together  with  his  zealous  and  faithful  serv- 
ices as  steward,  which  left  him  alone  during  the 
long  days,  it  affected  his  mind.  He  resigned  his 
position  as  the  club  was  moving  to  the  Twelfth 


C  64  ] 


Street  house  and  in  the  following  October  he  com- 
mitted suicide. 

The  floor  at  No.  40  was  divided  by  screens  or 
light  boarding  into  three  rooms.  In  front  was  the 
reading-room  with  shelves  for  the  growing  li- 
brary, and  at  the  back  the  exhibition  and  meet- 
ing-room, and  between  them  the  billiard-room 
and  the  buffet  that  served  as  a  bar,  and  along  its 
side  a  narrow  recess  for  coats. 

And  now  we  come  to  the  grand  pipe-dream  of 
the  Salmagundi  Club  which  was  dreamed  in  the 
club  quarters  at  No.  40  West  Twenty-second 
Street,  in  the  year  1893,  which  was  the  year  of 
the  great  World's  Fair  at  Chicago.  The  dream 
was  no  less  than  a  plan  for  the  club  to  go  to 
Chicago  by  Concord  coaches  to  Albany,  by 
packet-boat  through  the  canal  to  Buffalo,  thence 
our  boat  to  be  towed  through  the  Lakes,  and  tied 
up  in  the  lagoon  on  the  Exposition  grounds  and 
used  by  the  club  as  a  private  hotel  and,  at  the 
same  time,  to  be  an  important  exhibit  in  the  De- 
partment of  Transportation  of  the  State  of  New 
York.  The  packet-boat  was  to  be  the  Seneca 
Chief,  the  first  passenger  boat  that  went  through 
the  Erie  Canal,  and  was  to  have  been  built  by 
any  angel  that  could  be  found. 


1 65  n 


The  pipe-dreamer  was  the  writer  of  this  his- 
tory, and  the  idea  was  laughed  at  at  first  and 
then  so  far  adopted  by  the  club  that  I  was  sent  to 
Albany  to  look  over  the  ground  and,  presumably, 
to  see  somebody.  Before  going  to  Albany,  I  pro- 
vided myself  with  such  endorsements  as  I  could 
get.  I  was  encouraged  by  Mr.  Oliphant,  the 
president  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal 
Company,  and  by  Mr.  Legrand  Cannon,  but  Mr. 
Chauncey  Depew  said  he  had  never  heard  of  the 
Salmagundi  Club. 

That  was  in  the  day  of  small  things  for  the  Sal- 
magundi Club,  but  if  an  idea  equally  attractive 
and  equally  timely  were  conceived  in  the  present 
condition  of  the  club,  the  few  thousand  dollars 
needed  to  finance  the  scheme  would  be  provided 
very  promptly. 

The  newspapers  were  full  of  the  project  for  a 
few  days. 

The  following  clipping  seems  to  be  from  a 
Chicago  paper: 

"Chief  Smith  of  the  Transportation  Exhibits 
Department,  is  in  receipt  of  a  letter  from  the  Sal- 
magundi Club  of  New  York,  an  organization  of 
artists,  who  desire  to  come  to  the  Exposition  by 
means  of  primitive  modes  of  travel. 


c  66 : 


"They  propose  to  go  from  New  York  City  to 
Albany  by  means  of  the  old-fashioned  Concord 
coaches,  traveling  over  the  same  identical  route, 
horsed  and  tooled  after  the  manner  and  on  the 
same  scheduled  time  of  the  old  company.  From 
Albany  they  will  come  on  one  of  the  old-fash- 
ioned packets  of  the  Erie  Canal.  On  reaching 
Buffalo  they  desire  to  forward  the  canal  boat  to 
Chicago,  provided  they  can  obtain  a  landing- 
place  near  the  grounds  of  the  Exposition,  making 
it  the  headquarters  of  the  club  of  artists  while 
here.  The  boat  they  desire  to  enter  as  an  exhibit 
of  the  Transportation  Department.  The  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  it  can  be  properly  provided 
for  is  now  under  consideration." 

The  following  is  from  a  New  York  paper: 
"Here's  a  tip  for  the  people  who  are  going  to 
visit  Chicago,  and  incidentally  the  World's  Fair, 
this  summer.  Don't  go  by  rail.  That's  a  hack- 
neyed method  of  traveling.  Go  by  way  of  the  re- 
naissance canal  packet,  if  I  may  be  permitted  the 
expression.  How  can  you  do  it?  I'll  tell  you. 
That  artistic  institution  of  artistic  institutions, 
the  Salmagundi  Club,  has  a  great  big  scheme  on 
hand  by  virtue  of  which  you  may  travel  by  water 


C  67  ] 


from  New  York  to  Chicago.  Of  course  everybody 
has  heard  of  the  famous  packet-boat,  Seneca 
Chief,  which  was  the  first  canal  passenger  boat 
to  make  the  through  trip  on  the  Erie  Canal  in 
1825.  Well,  the  Salmagundi  Club,  at  the  sugges- 
tion of  W.  H.  Shelton,  the  ex-warrior,  artist, 
Century  contributor,  whist-player,  and  all-round 
good  fellow,  has  set  out  to  build  a  fin-de-siecle 
counterpart  of  the  Seneca  Chief,  and  run  it  from 
New  York  to  Chicago  during  the  progress  of  the 
World's  Fair.  The  scheme  will  cost  money,  but 
the  Salmagundi  hopes  to  enlist  the  New  York 
State  World's  Fair  Commission  in  the  enterprise 
and  so  secure  the  $4000  or  $5000  necessary.  It 
certainly  should  succeed,  for  the  triumphant  trip 
of  the  Seneca  Chief  marks  an  important  epoch 
in  American  history.  The  passage  of  the  packet 
boat  was  signaled  by  the  discharge  of  twenty-five 
cannon,  planted  at  intervals  along  the  banks  of 
the  canal,  and  in  one  hour  and  twenty  minutes 
after  the  packet  left  Buffalo,  the  announcement 
of  the  start  had  been  volleyed  away  down  to 
Sandy  Hook.  Surely  the  Salmagundi's  project  of 
restoring,  as  it  were,  the  Seneca  Chief  is  worthy 
of  cooperation." 


C  68  ] 


On  the  12th  of  December,  1893,  a  reception 
was  given  at  40  West  Twenty-second  Street  to 
Andres  Zorn,  the  handsome  and  distinguished 
Swedish  painter,  and  Josef  Slavinski,  the  Polish 
pianist,  just  introduced  to  the  American  public 
by  A.  M.  Palmer.  Up  to  that  time  this  was  con- 
sidered one  of  the  most  important  artistic  affairs 
given  by  the  club.  The  enthusiasm  ran  so  high 
that  the  distinguished  guests  were  made  honor- 
ary members  of  the  club.  Mr.  Slavinski  did  not 
play,  as  that  favor  was  reserved  for  paying  audi- 
ences, but  Miss  Annie  Wilkes,  a  skirt-dancer  and 
high-kicker,  made  the  evening  sufficiently  hila- 
rious. A  particularly  full  description  of  the  eve- 
ning's entertainment  was  published  in  the  New 
Orleans  "Picayune." 

It  was  while  the  club  was  at  40  West  Twenty- 
second  Street,  that  Mr.  Ranger,  representing  a  * 
discontented  element  in  the  Lotus  Club,  pro- 
posed to  bring  to  the  Salmagundi  a  considerable 
number  of  Lotus  Club  men,  but  the  movement 
was  contingent  upon  a  division  of  offices  between 
the  old  club  members  and  the  newcomers,  and 
was  coldly  received. 

The  Lotus  Club  at  that  time  was  in  its  old 
quarters  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Twenty-sec- 


C  69  ] 


ond  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue,  and  its  weekly 
entertainments  were  hilarious  bohemian  affairs. 
The  Salmagundians  were  among  the  guests  and 
were  sometimes  conspicuous  among  the  enter- 
tainers, for  it  was  an  open  field  where  new  talent 
was  welcomed.  The  entertainment  was  above- 
stairs  before  twelve  o'clock,  but  when  the  actors 
began  to  come  in  from  the  theaters,  it  was  ad- 
journed to  the  basement,  where  it  continued  un- 
til the  small  hours  of  the  morning. 

Ranger  was  for  a  long  time  the  master  of  cere- 
monies and  introduced  the  performers  in  a  cord- 
uroy coat  and  usually  spoke  with  a  cigar  hanging 
from  his  lips.  We  crowded  about  the  stage  and 
sat  upon  the  stairs,  tier  above  tier,  and  always, 
conspicuous  in  the  background,  was  a  well-known 
sculptor  in  a  maudlin  condition,  quite  too  far 
gone  to  take  any  interest  in  the  show. 

There  was  one  memorable  night,  when  Charlie 
Graham  and  Kemble  and  Durkin  gave  their  In- 
dian performance  in  the  old  Lotus  parlor.  It  was 
probably  after  their  appearance  in  the  same  role 
at  121  Fifth  Avenue,  and  the  Salmagundians, 
knowing  what  was  coming,  sat  in  a  state  of  tense 
expectation  until  the  bells  on  Charlie  Graham's 
legs  indicated  that  the  half -naked  savages  had  hit 


c  70  n 


the  stairway  and  in  another  moment,  with  war- 
whoops  and  drums  and  rattles,  they  burst  into 
view  and  began  the  Indian  dance. 

One  of  the  last  festivities  of  the  Salmagundi- 
ans,  before  leaving  Twenty-second  Street,  was  a 
dinner  at  an  Italian  restaurant,  on  which  occa- 
sion Mr.  Lawrence,  the  president  of  the  Lotus 
Club,  was  present. 

The  following  account  of  the  dinner  is  from 
the  New  York  "Sun"  of  April  21,  1895,  and  is 
entitled,  "An  Artistic  Revelry  with  a  Nickel-in- 
the-Slot  Innovation": 

"The  Salmagundi  Club,  which  holds  continu- 
ous symposiums  in  its  rooms  in  Twenty-second 
Street,  having  been  informed  by  its  Entertain- 
ment Committee  that  what  it  most  wanted  was  a 
dinner,  sat  down  in  Sangheri's,  in  East  Twenty- 
second  Street,  on  Friday  night,  to  a  sort  of  ban- 
quet. The  meeting  broke  up  yesterday  morning. 
True  to  their  bohemian  habit,  the  club  members 
turned  out  in  large  numbers,  the  dining-room 
was  crowded,  and  a  novelty  was  introduced  in 
the  nature  of  a  nickel-in-the-slot  waiter,  who 
went  about  in  white  apron  and  weighed  each 
member,  collecting  individually  and  accordingly 
from  each  man  on  the  premises  and  while  he 


C  7i  n 


waited.  This  procedure  made  bookkeeping  un- 
necessary. 

"Thomas  Moran,  president  of  the  club,  pre- 
sided, and  speeches  were  made  by  W.  Lewis 
Fraser,  F.  S.  Church,  J.  H.  Dolph,  Charles  Baker, 
T.  S.  Steele  of  Hartford,  Fred  Bartlet,  A.  T.  Van 
Laer,  C.  C.  Ruthrauff,  William  T.  Evans,  and 
W.  H.  Drake.  Felix  Morris,  the  accomplished 
actor,  made  several  recitations,  and  Mr.  Senecal 
played  upon  the  piano,  very  greatly  to  the  delight 
of  the  company. 

"The  affairs  of  the  club  were  discussed  by  sev- 
eral gentlemen  of  various  opinions  as  to  the  best 
methods  of  continuing  the  exhibitions  and  its 
influence  as  the  one  artist's  club  in  New  York. 

"Among  those  present  were  Mr.  Charles  Wal- 
ker, of  the  Boston  Art  Club;  Mr.  J.  Francis  Mur- 
phy; Mr.  J.  A.  Thompson;  Mr.  Lawrence,  of  the 
Lotus  Club;  Mr.  J.  Scott  Hartley;  Mr.  George  H. 
McCord;  Mr.  E.  J.  Dressier;  Mr.  Charles  Proc- 
tor; Mr.  De  Scott  Evans;  Captain  Stivers;  Mr. 
O.  H.  von  Gottschalck;  Mr.  George  F.  Kerr;  Mr. 
William  C.  Fitler;  Mr.  E.  L.  Durand;  and  Mr. 
Bernheim." 

As  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  newspaper 
notice,  the  New  York  dailies  were  very  attentive 


c  72  n 


to  the  movements  of  the  Salmagundi  Club,  partly 
because  of  its  activity  in  art  matters,  and  partly 
because  the  press  seemed  to  regard  the  club  as  a 
sort  of  bohemian  morsel  that  it  loved  to  turn 
over  in  its  journalistic  maw  and  upon  which  it 
never  tired  of  regaling  itself. 

The  Salmagundi  Club  was  only  an  obscure 
wanderer  in  the  great  club  world  of  New  York, 
and  up  to  the  time  of  leaving  Twenty-second 
Street,  it  had  been  but  a  one-floor  club.  The  com- 
forts and  privileges  that  it' afforded  to  its  mem- 
bers were  limited.  Its  members  could  drink  and 
smoke  at  home,  but  when  it  dined  it  adjourned  to 
a  French  or  an  Italian  table-d'hote  restaurant, 
where  the  red  wine  or  the  chianti  was  of  good  re- 
pute and  where  a  room  could  be  reserved  for  a 
certain  amount  of  hilarious  privacy.  It  is  true 
that  there  were  some  dinners  served  at  home,  by 
a  caterer  from  without,  who  brought  his  waiters 
and  a  plate-warmer,  which  were  remembered  for 
their  coldness. 

At  121  and  123  Fifth  Avenue  the  rooms  of  the 
club  were  little  used  except  on  Friday  which  was 
the  club  night.  At  49  West  Twenty-second  Street 
the  rooms  were  simply  furnished,  but  furnished 
for  the  first  time,  and  a  billiard-table  was  added 


C  73  ] 


to  the  attractions  of  the  club,  and  finally  a  stew- 
ard appeared  to  look  after  the  place  and  keep 
the  accounts. 

At  No.  40  there  was  an  increase  of  members 
and  an  increase  of  comforts,  but  it  was  still  a 
one-floor  and  a  one-servant  club. 


CHAPTER  V 

FOURTEEN  WEST  TWELFTH  STREET 

There  is  a  house  not  far  from  ways  of  trade 

Where  artist  fellows  oft  do  congregate, 

And  some  few  scribblers  by  their  muse  betrayed, 

And  sons  of  guns  with  music  in  their  pate, 

With  others  more  substantial  and  sedate, 

Who  buy  the  stuff  the  artist  fellows  paint 

(The  fair  pot-boiler  sketch  which  bears  no  date), 

Who  make  no  grim  grimace,  no  sad  complaint, 

Although  the  plug  is  tough  and  twice  the  market  rate. 

CRAVEN  LANGSTROTH  BETTS 

The  neighborhood  of  Washington  Square  and  the 
quiet  streets  above  it  lined  with  their  substan- 
tial houses  of  hospitable  vestibules  and  gleaming 
brasses,  seemed  to  exercise  an  unconscious  at- 
traction for  the  Salmagundi  Club.  During  a  num- 
ber of  years  it  had  quarters  in  the  old  Univer- 
sity Building  and  in  the  Benedict,  looking  out  on 
the  square  itself,  and  in  all  its  migrations  it  was 
circling  about  the  region  of  its  destiny  like  a  rest- 
less bird,  lighting  here  and  there  before  nesting. 

At  the  time  of  the  removal  from  Twenty-sec- 
ond Street  to  14  West  Twelfth  Street,  Thomas 
Moran  was  president  of  the  club,  Joseph  Hartley 
was  treasurer,  and  Robert  Minor  was  recording 


House  Front,  14  West  12th  Street 

FROM  A  CHARCOAL  DRAWING  BY  CHARLES  S.  CHAPMAN 


C  75  ^ 


secretary.  The  house  was  the  city  home  of  John 
Rogers,  famous  for  the  groups  of  historical  figures 
known  as  "Rogers  Groups,"  or  "Rogers  Statu- 
ettes." These  particular  sculptures,  the  figures 
about  half  life-size  in  plaster,  usually  painted  a 
drab  color,  had  enjoyed  great  popularity  before 
and  during  the  Civil  War  and  in  the  years  imme- 
diately following.  The  "groups "  had  great  vogue 
as  wedding  presents  and  stand  to-day  in  many  a 
darkened  parlor  throughout  the  land,  as  monu- 
ments to  the  founding  of  families. 

At  the  March  meeting,  1895,  a  committee  had 
been  appointed  to  secure  new  quarters  for  the 
club.  A  committee  of  three  had  already  been 
looking  about  without  success,  and  that  commit- 
tee was  now  increased  to  five  members.  In  the 
order  named  in  the  minutes,  they  were  Cheever 
Goodwin,  Herbert  Levy,  R.  M.  Shurtleff,  Lewis 
Fraser,  and  Joseph  A.  Thompson.  At  the  April 
meeting  this  committee  reported  progress  and 
recommended  "  a  part  of  a  house  in  Tenth  Street 
lately  occupied  by  Mr.  Lanthier." 

On  the  1st  of  May  the  Salmagundi  Club  took 
possession  of  the  house  at  14  West  Twelfth  Street, 
which  for  more  than  twenty  years  continued  to 
be  its  home.  The  studio  at  the  back  of  the  lot  and 


C  76  ] 


parts  of  the  house  were  crowded  with  designs  in 
plaster  for  the  familiar  statuettes;  the  first  con- 
ceptions of  such  groups  as  Lincoln  striking  the 
fetters  from  the  slave,  or  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
and  the  slave  girl,  rudely  suggested  in  tiny  figures 
of  clay,  cracked  and  covered  with  the  dust  of 
years,  stood  about  on  shelves  and  barrel  heads  or 
lay  shattered  on  the  floor.  It  was  pathetic  to  see 
the  aged  sculptor  standing  among  the  debris  of 
his  life-work,  his  hands  that  had  wrought  so 
much  shaking  with  palsy.  There  were  more  am- 
bitious works,  intended  to  follow  the  "groups," 
notably  two  equestrian  statues,  half  life-size,  of 
Sherman  and  Sheridan,  which  for  years  rested 
above  two  of  the  cases  in  the  library. 

On  May  3,  at  the  monthly  meeting  it  is  re- 
corded : 

"The  House  Committee  gave  an  account  of 
the  rental  of  New  Quarters  in  12th  Street. 

"Mr.  Baker  moved  a  vote  of  thanks  to  Messrs. 
Shurtleff,  the  Site  &  Ex.  Committees,  and  Mr. 
Craig  for  services  rendered  in  securing  new  quar- 
ters." 

Mr.  Shurtleff  was  evidently  the  chairman  of 
the  committee  and  Mr.  Thomas  Craig  may  have 
called  the  attention  of  the  committee  to  the  house. 


t  77  3 


Mr.  Rogers  wished  to  retire  to  his  country 
house  at  New  Canaan,  Connecticut,  and  the 
house,  14  West  Twelfth  Street,  was  secured  by 
the  club  at  an  annual  rental  of  two  thousand 
dollars. 

During  the  time  of  its  prosperity  the  house 
had  been  remodeled  for  the  exhibition  and  sale 
of  the  famous  groups.  The  house  then  extended 
as  far  back  as  the  present  wall  of  the  upper  stor- 
ies and  included  the  tier  of  rooms  below,  now 
defined  by  the  girder  that  crosses  midway  of  the 
grill-room.  The  studio  stood  sixteen  feet  back  of 
the  house.  It  was  a  brick  structure  covering  the 
exact  area  of  what  was  later  the  billiard-room, 
lighted  by  a  glass  roof  and  entered  by  a  door  at 
the  middle  of  its  front.  The  wide  section  of  the 
grill-room  had  been  the  family  kitchen,  and  un- 
der that  was  the  laundry  with  stationary  tubs 
and  opening  on  the  yard  by  stone  steps  under  the 
usual  sloping  cellar  door. 

Outside  the  back  hall  door  was  what  remained 
of  a  rope  and  pulley  elevator  which  at  some  time 
had  landed  its  invalid  passenger  at  the  door  of 
the  card-room,  a  door  which  had  been  opened 
for  that  purpose.  The  big  office  window  was  a 
show  window  for  the  statuettes.  The  stairway 


had  been  removed  from  the  hall  in  the  interest  of 
the  business  and  a  line  of  screens  divided  it  into 
two  halls,  one  for  family  use,  and  the  other,  along 
the  west  wall,  led  to  the  studio.  It  had  its  own 
vestibule  door,  by  which  a  horse,  when  a  horse 
was  needed  for  a  model,  could  be  led  in  along  the 
marble  floor.  The  parlor  had  a  line  of  low  book- 
cases against  the  west  wall,  the  bar  had  been  the 
butler's  pantry,  and  the  "red  room"  the  family 
dining-room,  with  two  windows  looking  south 
over  the  Rogers  Studio.  The  library  was  divided 
by  a  low  partition  into  two  bedrooms,  and  this 
was  the  house  as  we  found  it. 

An  entry  in  the  minutes  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee reads:  "Mr.  Hartley  was  empowered  to 
engage  Mr.  Andrew  Christopher  and  his  wife 
as  janitors."  The  club  needed  several  servants, 
but  as  it  could  afford  only  one  it  was  as  well 
to  begin  with  a  janitor  and  his  unpaid  assistant. 
The  other  member  of  the  Christopher  family  was 
a  fox  terrier  of  objectionable  habits. 

Andrew  was  a  surly  Swedish  sailor,  who  opened 
the  door  in  his  shirt-sleeves  and  frightened  timid 
members  away.  Ashore  he  was  a  carpenter, 
which  accounts  for  his  engagement,  and  it  was 
Andrew  who  removed  the  low  bookcases  from  the 


OFFICE,  14  WEST  12TH  STREET 
From  a  charcoal  drawing  by  Charles  S.  Chapman 


C  79  ^ 

parlor  and  the  diamond-glazed  cupboards  from 
the  pantry  to  the  library.  It  was  also  Andrew 
who  built  the  covered  passage  to  the  studio.  This 
passage  was  built  along  Mr.  Crane's  fence  and 
along  the  wall  of  the  studio  to  the  studio  door.  It 
was  built  of  unplaned  boards;  the  cracks  and 
knot-holes  in  the  boards  and  the  cracks  in  Mr. 
Crane's  fence  were  battened  with  strips  of  lath 
over  ragged  bits  of  oilcloth  and  the  roof  was  cov- 
ered with  tarred  paper.  It  was  a  rude  passage 
down  an  inclined  plane  and  very  cold  in  the 
winter. 

The  sailor  and  his  famify  lived*  in  the  kitchen 
or  as  Andrew  called  it  the  galley,  and  occupied 
the  two  back  bedrooms  on  the  fourth  floor,  one 
for  a  bunk  and  the  other  for  a  cabin.  In  the  sum- 
mer instead  of  going  aloft  they  preferred  to  sleep 
on  the  bathtubs  in  the  hold  of  the  ship.  There 
was  a  hatchway  leading  up  to  the  bar  and  when 
Andrew's  ship-mates  were  in  port  grog  was  free. 
And  this  was  the  Salmagundi  Club  and  not  the 
Yacht  Club. 

Mr.  Joseph  A.  Thompson,  the  corresponding 
secretary,  rented  from  the  club  the  room  that 
was  later  the  card-room,  and  after  a  time  one 
servant  was  added  to  the  meager  staff,  in  the 


C  so  3 


person  of  "Old  Baker,"  a  fine  type  of  the  obse- 
quious Virginia  house-servant,  who  knew  a  gen- 
tleman when  he  saw  one,  and  who  must  have  had 
his  opinion  of  Andrew.  Baker's  position  was  that 
of  hall-boy  and  dog-chaser. 

During  Andrew's  time  breakfast  was  served  in 
the  room  which  was  later  the  office.  It  was  fur- 
nished with  an  extension  table  and  wooden  chairs. 
A  faded  linen  shade  hung  awry  in  the  front  win- 
dow which  a  reporter  for  the  "Sun"  had  taken 
the  liberty  to  publish  to  the  world  as  a  "shirt- 
tail."  The  floor  of  this  room  was  usually  orna- 
mented, along  the  baseboard,  with  crusts  of 
bread  and  scraps  of  paper,  gray  with  dust.  This 
was  the  first  meal  service  in  the  history  of  the 
club,  and  it  had  a  humble  beginning,  the  more  so 
as  it  was  served  by  Andrew  for  Andrew.  The  base- 
ment of  the  house  at  this  time  was  unused  except 
for  the  storage  of  coal,  and  the  ice  and  all  other 
supplies  were  delivered  through  the  front  hall. 

Notwithstanding  the  limited  service  and  the 
other  humble  beginnings  some  of  the  artist  mem- 
bers were  very  enthusiastic  and  very  active  in  the 
decoration  of  the  house.  To  this  end  a  bond  issue 
was  authorized  on  the  seventh  day  in  the  new 
house  in  the  following  words: 


6  ^ 

I-H  O 


b  •a 


C  81  ] 


"  Salmagundi  Club 
"  14  West  12th  St. 

"Dear  Sir: 

"Now  that  we  have  moved  to  our  new 
house  we  find  it  necessary  to  raise  some  money 
for  the  general  purposes  of  the  Club  and  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committee  have  authorized  the  issue  of 
Bonds  to  the  amount  of  Two  Thousand  Dollars, 
payable  in  five  years,  with  interest  at  the  rate  of 
four  per  cent  per  annum.  One  fifth  of  the  Two 
Thousand  to  be  redeemed  each  year.  They  will 
be  issued  in  sums  of  Ten  Dollars  and  multiples  of 
that  amount  as  may  be  desired. 

"You  are  asked  to  subscribe  to  this  loan,  and 
our  Treasurer,  Mr.  Joseph  Hartley,  265  Canal 
Street,  will  send  you  Bonds  on  receipt  of  money. 

"Joseph  A.  Thompson,  Secy. 

"New  York,  May  7th,  1895." 

Charles  A.  Proctor,  Frank  Green,  Bruce  Crane, 
and  Will  Drake  treated  the  great  parlor  and  the 
Rogers  Studio  with  colored  burlaps,  making  the 
latter  room  available  for  the  exhibition  of  pic- 
tures and  for  the  official  meetings  of  the  club. 

With  the  first  warm  weather  of  1896,  his  sec- 
ond summer  with  the  club,  our  sailor-steward  be- 


C  82  3 


gan  to  pine  for  the  sea,  and  he  was  given  a  leave 
of  absence  of  six  weeks  to  visit  Sweden.  Andrew 
continued  to  be  the  steward  until  1897,  remaining 
long  enough  to  divide  with  Baker  the  first  Christ- 
mas fund  for  the  servants  in  the  history  of  the 
club,  one  hundred  dollars,  which  was  really  a 
New  Year's  gift  for  1897.  Andrew  left  some 
time  during  the  summer  of  that  year.  The  date 
of  his  departure  was  selected  by  the  dog.  That 
important  member  of  the  family,  which  was  held 
to  fill  the  place  of  a  child  that  was  dead,  had  been 
condemned  by  the  chairman  of  the  house  com- 
mittee to  a  life  belowstairs.  That  order  was  so 
far  disregarded  that  the  dog  was  disguised  in  » 
swaddling  clothes  and  carried  upstairs  to  bed  at 
night.  This  so  offended  the  chairman  of  the  house 
committee  that  the  offending  dog  was  ordered 
removed  from  the  house  altogether. 

Soon  thereafter  there  came  a  morning  when, 
for  good  and  sufficient  reason,  the  librarian  has- 
tened to  the  Grand  Union  Hotel,  and  the  Grand 
Union  Hotel  —  "  The  Grand  Union  Hotel " 
stands  for  Sam  Shaw  —  asked  Andrew  Christ- 
opher, over  the  telephone,  when  he  proposed 
to  remove  his  dog  from  the  house  occupied  by 
the  Salmagundi  Club,  at  14  West  Twelfth  Street 


GLIMPSE  OF  GRILL-ROOM  FROM  BILLIARD-ROOM 
F rom  a  charcoal  drawing  by  Charles  S.  Chapman 


C  83  ] 


in  the  City  of  New  York,  to  which  Andrew  re- 
plied, "Never."  Whether  Andrew  had  been  splic- 
ing the  main  brace  or  whether  he  was  in  one  of 
his  surly  moods,  his  curt  reply  stung  the  chair- 
man of  the  house  committee  to  action,  and  with 
the  librarian  he  hurried  to  the  treasurer  in  Canal 
Street  to  learn  the  exact  terms  under  which  An- 
drew had  shipped.  An  hour  later  Andrew's  wife, 
followed  by  the  dog  in  disgrace,  opened  the  door 
in  tears,  and  from  that  day  the  club  was  without 
a  steward.  Andrew  disappeared  over  the  rail 
with  his  dunnage,  leaving  Baker  in  command  of 
the  ship. 

We  must  have  been  without  a  steward  for  some 
time  after  the  painter  members  returned  from 
their  summer  work,  for  it  was  in  December,  1897, 
when  the  second  steward,  Emil  Mehl,  and  his 
wife  came  to  the  club,  and  it  was  during  his  stew- 
ardship that  the  real  renaissance  of  the  club  be- 
gan. Emil's  father  was  a  retired  chef,  who  had 
once  ruled  the  kitchen  of  the  Brevoort  House. 
Twice  a  month  he  came  up  from  his  retreat  on 
Long  Island  and  cooked  a  dinner  for  the  Salma- 
gundi Club.  The  dinner  was  cooked  in  the  laun- 
dry, brought  across  the  yard  by  the  waiters,  and 
served  in  the  Rogers  Studio.  The  first  of  these 


I  84  3 


dinners  took  place  on  January  25,  1898.  It  had 
been  announced  by  a  circular  on  January  18  that 
a  design  had  been  accepted  for  a  tiled  fireplace 
in  the  "smoking-room"  and  that  a  dinner  would 
take  place  on  January  25  at  which  tiles  would  be 
painted.  The  design  for  the  fireplace  was  by  Ar- 
thur Blackmore  and  William  C.  Ostrander.  At 
this  time  the  club  had  its  own  potter,  the  late 
Charles  Volkmar,  who  had  taught  us  etchings  in 
the  old  days,  and  the  tiles  were  burned  under  a 
heavy  glaze.  They  were  of  a  uniform  size,  four 
inches  square,  and  the  variety  of  design  was  se- 
cured by  massing  tiles  for  the  central  and  flank- 
ing pictures.  The  single  tiles  for  borders  and  for 
filling  in  around  the  designs  were  many  of  them 
painted  at  this  opening  dinner.  The  large  central 
picture  below  the  mantelpiece  was  a  Dutch  land- 
scape by  A.  T.  Van  Laer,  and  the  upright  panels 
at  the  sides  of  the  fireplace  were  single  figures  by 
Paul  Dessar  and  I.  H.  Josephi,  each  three  tiles 
wide  by  eight  tiles  high,  and  the  central  design, 
by  Van  Laer,  was  irregular  in  form  on  forty  tiles. 
Flanking  this  center  design  was  a  group  of  Dutch 
fishing  boats  by  Will  H.  Drake  on  sixteen  tiles 
and  a  Dutch  landscape  by  J.  J.  Redmond.  There 
were  small  portraits  of  Inness*  and  Wyant.  The 


C  85  ] 


mottoes  and  the  lettering  were  by  Thomson  Will- 
ing, who  afterwards  completed  the  decoration  of 
the  room,  which  was  always  known  as  the  "Red 
Room,"  from  its  original  Japanese  wall-paper 
and  from  the  same  color  prevailing  elsewhere. 

At  these  dinners  decorated  souvenirs  of  the  oc- 
casion, autographed  by  all  the  diners,  were  sold 
at  auction,  the  proceeds  to  be  applied  to  the  fit- 
ting-up  of  the  club.  Some  of  these  souvenirs 
were  very  elaborate  in  design  and  finish,  and  for 
one  of  these  Mr.  Clarkson  Cowl  paid  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  dollars.  At  about  this  time, 
also,  Mr.  Cowl  donated  seventy-five  dollars  for 
the  oak  grill  in  the  office  window  and  for  curtains 
to  take  the  place  of  the  disreputable  shades. 

It  was  at  these  dinners  that  Bruce  Crane  began 
his  career  as  the  club's  auctioneer,  and  the  enthu- 
siasm was  so  great  that  articles  were  sold  at  un- 
reasonable prices  and  then  returned  to  be  sold 
again.  On  one  occasion  a  ten-dollar  gold-piece 
was  sold  for  twenty  dollars  and  then  sent  back  to 
the  auctioneer  for  another  trial  of  his  skill.  At 
this  time  the  initiation  fee  was  suspended  and  the 
membership  increased  rapidly.  At  one  period  of 
the  dinners  in  the  old  studio  it  was  customary  for 
the  artists  to  bring  sketches  which  were  displayed 


C  86  3 

on  the  walls  and  were  afterwards  divided  by  lot 
among  the  contributors.  An  artist-contributor 
who  brought  a  guest  often  allowed  his  guest  to 
draw  in  his  stead.  It  soon  became  a  custom  to 
vote  on  the  merits  of  the  sketches,  or,  as  they 
often  were,  finished  pictures,  the  one  receiving 
the  highest  number  of  votes  becoming  the  prop- 
erty of  the  club.  Some  of  these  pictures  are  still 
on  the  walls,  as  a  landscape  by  Fitler  and  a 
horse  and  cart,  by  Frank  Green. 

Mr.  Samuel  T.  Shaw,  who  was  then  the  chair- 
man of  the  house  committee,  established  a  cock- 
tail closet  in  the  corner  of  the  room,  the  revenue 
from  which,  more  substantial  than  the  revenue 
of  Cockchafers,  Locusts,  and  Periwinkles  of  the 
original  Lairdship  of  Salmagundin,  was  devoted 
to  framing  the  successful  pictures,  by  which  ac- 
tion the  chairman  of  the  house  committee  outdid 
Panurge,  the  eccentric  hero  of  Rabelais. 

On  January  24,  1898,  the  decoration  of  the 
front  hall  was  authorized  by  the  executive  com- 
mittee. This  plan  of  decoration  contemplated  a 
dado  of  paintings,  twenty  inches  in  depth,  set  in 
a  framework  of  ebonized  wood  and  extending 
around  the  walls  of  this  rectangular  room.  These 
paintings,  on  the  eve  of  their  removal  to  the  new 


C  87  ] 


house,  after  nearly  twenty  years  in  their  present 
setting,  deserve  at  least  an  enumeration.  They 
were  painted  on  mahogany  panels  and  varied  in 
width,  the  smaller  uprights  being  sixteen  inches 
wide  and  the 'larger  ones  thirty  inches.  They 
were  in  the  best  manner  of  the  artists  repre- 
sented. The  large  panels  were  by  J.  Francis  Mur- 
phy, F.  K.  M.  Rehn,  Robert  Minor,  R.  M.  Shurt- 
leff,  Bolton  Jones,  Frank  Green,  Frederick  Nae- 
gele,  George  H.  McCord,  Thomas  Craig,  Henry 
Mosler,  and  James  Tyler. 

The  smaller  panels  are  signed  by  W.  C.  Fitler, 
William  Verplanck  Birney,  A.  T.  Van  Laer,  Frank 
Jones,  Paul  Moran,  De  Scott  Evans,  Carl  J.  Blen- 
ner,  Herbert  Morgan,  W.  H.  Shelton,  Charles  E. 
Proctor,  J.  N.  Marble,  Henry  P.  Smith,  L.  C. 
Earle,  William  H.  Howe,  and  De  Cost  Smith. 

Following  the  decoration  of  the  hall  the  enthu- 
siasm for  painting  panels  sought  expression  on  all 
available  walls.  The  front  of  the  bar,  under  the 
central  dome  of  the  stairway,  was  laid  out  in 
thirteen  panels,  which  were  enriched  with  paint- 
ings by  members,  some  of  whom  are  no  longer 
with  us.  There  was  a  fine  landscape  by  Julian 
Rix,  a  cat  by  Dolph,  a  marine  by  Charles  Baker, 
sheep  in  a  stable-yard  by  Paul  Dessar,  early  sky- 


C  88  2 


scrapers  by  Homer  Lee,  Dutch  boats  by  A.  C. 
Morgan,  a  floral  piece  by  William  C.  Ostrander, 
water-lilies  by  Thomson  Willing,  a  landscape  by 
H.  C.  Nichols,  and  figures  by  Edward  Pothast, 
Rudolph  Bunner,  George  Inness,  Jr.,  and  H.  M. 
Waltman. 

The  east  wall  of  the  reception-room,  later  used 
as  an  office,  was  decorated  in  panels  only  a  few 
of  which  remain.  There  was  a  snowy  road  by 
Bruce  Crane,  an  Indian  head  by  Irving  Couse, 
and  a  handsome  miniature  by  I.  H.  Josephi. 

A  number  of  the  most  valuable  pictures  owned 
by  the  club  came  as  gift-prizes  through  the  gen- 
erosity of  two  members,  George  Inness,  Jr.,  and 
Alexander  C.  Morgan.  Mr.  Inness's  prize  was 
five  hundred  dollars  for  the  best  painting  shown 
in  the  Annual  Oil  Exhibition,  the  work  so  hon- 
ored to  become  the  property  of  the  club.  The 
twilight  landscape  by  Frank  de  Haven,  the  view 
in  Bruges,  by  Charles  Warren  Eaton,  the  lady 
drinking  tea  by  Alfred  H.  Maurer  and  the  great 
copper  by  Emile  Carlsen,  are  the  gifts  under  the 
Inness  Prize.  The  Morgan  Prize  was  one  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars,  for  the  best  water-color  in  the 
Annual  Water-Color  Exhibition,  the  picture  to 
go  to  the  club  on  the  same  terms.  The  Morgan 


[  89  ] 


prizes  are  the  interior  by  Arthur  J.  Keller,  the 
snow  scene  by  Leonard  Ochtman,  and  the  marine 
by  Albert  Groll. 

While  these  improvements  were  going  on,  the 
club  was  still  without  a  restaurant.  The  old 
Rogers  dining-room  was  a  sort  of  garage  for  the 
baby-carriages  of  the  steward,  who  had  a  growing 
family.  The  club  was  dining  in  its  own  house  but 
twice  a  month.  This  condition  was  improved 
upon  a  little  by  Mr.  Lewis  Fraser,  who  provided 
for  a  weekly  supper,  known  at  the  time  by  the 
original,  and  mildly  satirical,  name  of  the  "Hun- 
gry Joe."  A  box  with  a  narrow  opening  at  the 
top  like  a  ballot-box  was  fixed  against  the  bulle- 
tin in  the  hall  and  each  member  who  dropped  a 
contribution  into  the  "Hungry  Joe"  was  entitled 
to  a  seat  at  the  supper-table  on  Friday  night. 
This,  of  course,  was  a  late  supper.  Each  member 
contributed  according  to  his  means,  or  his  humor; 
it  might  be  a  bank-note  or  a  nickel,  but  the 
amount  was  a  secret.  When  the  "Hungry  Joe" 
was  opened  and  the  sum  of  money  found  therein 
was  divided  by  the  number  of  names  also  found, 
it  could  be  determined  whether  the  supper  might 
be  a  welsh  rabbit  or  a  porterhouse  steak.  The 
"Hungry  Joe"  may  have  been  suggested  by  a 


C  90  ] 


custom  that  had  prevailed  briefly,  years  before, 
at  123  Fifth  Avenue,  when  the  club  had  no  stew- 
ard. To  provide  for  beer  at  the  weekly  meeting, 
a  cigar  box  with  a  slot  for  dimes  was  set  up  and 
abandoned  when  the  suspender  buttons  out- 
numbered the  dimes. 

The  club  in  its  frequent  removals  from  place  to 
place  had  grown  lax  in  its  scrutiny  of  member- 
ship lists.  Its  doors  stood  too  generously  open 
and  its  easy-going  hospitality  had  been  taken  ad- 
vantage of.  There  were  members  carried  on  the 
roll,  and  who  enjoyed  such  advantages  as  the 
club  afforded,  who  had  never  paid  a  cent  of  initi- 
ation fee  or  annual  dues,  and  a  larger  number  who 
used  the  club  when  they  chose,  but  who  had  long 
ceased  to  pay  so  much  as  a  periwinkle  for  that 
privilege.  The  club  was  living  up  to  its  name  as 
the  worthy  successor  of  the  "Chatellenie  de  Sal- 
migondin,"  whose  revenue  was  cockchafers,  peri- 
winkles, and  locusts.  Like  Panurge  we  were  liv- 
ing jolly  with  no  desire  to  be  rich. 

The  preliminary  work  of  establishing  the  club 
on  a  sound  financial  basis  began  with  purging  the 
roll  of  delinquent  members.  This  was  under- 
taken by  the  recording  secretary  in  the  spring  of 
1898  and  continued  for  more  than  a  year.  Many 


GRILL-ROOM,  14  WEST  12TH  STREET 
From  a  charcoal  drawing  by  Charles  S.  Chapman 


C  91  H 


of  these  members  could  only  be  brought  to  book 
by  the  use  of  registered  letters  and  by  that  means 
they  were  forced  out  or  compelled  to  make  a 
settlement. 

After  the  second  auction  sale  in  April,  1899,  at 
which  the  "sketches,"  as  the  pictures  were  then 
called,  brought  sixteen  hundred  and  sixty-eight 
dollars,  one  half  of  which  went  to  the  club,  one 
hundred  dollars  was  given  to  the  house  commit- 
tee towards  fitting  up  a  grill-room.  A  member  of 
the  committee  mounted  his  wheel  and  found  a 
man  in  Forty-second  Street  who  agreed  to  put  in 
a  dumb  waiter  for  the  hundred  dollars  aforesaid. 
The  dumb  waiter  was  completed  as  it  stands  to- 
day, in  the  month  of  May,  1899,  and  during 
the  summer  was  called  "Shelton's  folly."  In  the 
fall,  following,  the  house  committee,  after  much 
wrangling  and  discussion,  asked  the  executive 
committee  for  an  appropriation  for  a  restaurant. 
This  request  was  at  first  refused,  but  on  October 
25  an  appropriation  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  dol- 
lars was  made,  which  was  increased  on  November 
5  to  two  hundred  and  fifty. 

In  December  the  following  notice  was  issued 
to  members  and  posted  in  the  club  : 

"A  Grill-Room  will  be  opened  at  the  Salma- 


Z  92  ] 


gundi  Club  for  the  accommodation  of  members 
and  their  guests  on  Tuesday,  December  11th, 
1899. 

'  6  The  services  of  a  first-class  cook  have  been 
secured  and  a  fifty-cent  dinner  will  be  served 
from  6  to  8  o'clock  and  a  twenty-five  cent  lunch 
from  12  o'clock  m." 

The  grill-room,  at  that  time,  before  the  exten- 
sion of  the  house,  was  the  old  Rogers  kitchen, 
which  had  been  very  tastefully  decorated  by  Mr. 
George  M.  Taylor,  who  was  then  chairman  of  the 
house  committee.  The  ornamental  brasses  on  the 
doors  and  the  copper  hood  in  the  fireplace  were 
designed  and  executed  by  him.  The  decoration 
of  the  card-room  in  ebonized  wood,  with  brasses 
in  original  designs  on  the  doors  and  the  comfort- 
able settles  cushioned  with  leather  and  paneled 
above  for  paintings,  is  also  to  the  credit  of  Mr. 
Taylor,  as  was  the  establishment  of  the  office 
with  a  bookkeeper  and  with  all  the  equipment 
of  a  modern  club. 

The  grill-room  was  opened  according  to  pro- 
gramme, but  the  first  of  the  fifty-cent  dinners 
was  served  on  the  28th  of  December. 

The  first  uniform  worn  by  any  servant  of  the 
club  appeared  on  the  small  boy  who  opened  the 


C  93  ^ 


door  in  March,  1899.  It  was  a  brown  jacket  with 
bell  buttons  and  trousers  of  the  same  color. 

In  the  summer  of  1900  the  quarters  of  the  club 
were  greatly  enlarged  by  putting  a  second  story 
on  the  old  studio  and  connecting  the  new  struc- 
ture with  the  house.  The  studio  where  the  semi- 
monthly dinners  had  been  served  while  the 
enthusiasm  for  improvements  had  been  at 
white  heat  became  the  billiard-room,  connected 
through  an  archway  with  the  extension  of  the 
grill-room.  On  the  second  floor  the  new  gallery 
extended  from  the  rear  of  the  lot  to  the  central 
staircase,  absorbing  the  "Red  Room,"  which  had 
been  the  pride  of  the  club.  In  this  room  the  cor- 
ners were  rounded  with  four  glazed  doors,  con- 
cave in  form,  which  in  the  general  scheme  of  dec- 
oration were  an  important  feature.  The  upper 
half  of  these  doors  was  treated  with  panel  paint- 
ings representing  the  four  seasons;  "Spring,"  two 
female  figures,  by  J.  Allen  St.  John;  "Summer," 
two  nudes  floating  among  the  poppies,  by  F.  Luis 
Mora;  "Autumn"  in  Holland,  by  George  M. 
Reevs;  and  "Winter,"  a  Japanese  figure  the  en- 
tire panel  in  dark  blue,  by  Genjiro  Yeto. 

Much  of  the  furniture  had  been  made  expressly 
for  the  "Red  Room"  after  designs  by  Mr.  Thorn- 


C  94  ] 


son  Willing,  and  the  completed  scheme  of  decora- 
tion, including  the  aforesaid  corner  doors,  the 
great  tile  fireplace,  and  the  encircling  shelf  set 
with  mugs  of  the  same  blue  delft  as  the  tiles,  was 
finished  and  accepted  with  great  satisfaction  just 
as  the  new  building  plans  called  for  the  sacrifice 
of  the  much-admired  room  in  the  interest  of  the 
new  gallery.  When  the  south  wall,  with  its  two 
richly  curtained  windows  looking  across  the  roof 
of  the  old  studio,  was  removed,  the  "Red  Room" 
was  a  three-sided  shell. 

The  improvements  were  made  by  the  landlord, 
but  the  work  was  planned  and  directed  by  Mr. 
Frank  Wallace,  an  architect  member,  who  very 
generously  gave  his  time  and  his  talent  to  the 
construction,  and  the  first  autumn  meeting  of 
the  club  was  held  in  the  new  gallery. 


N 


STAIRWAY,  14  WEST  12TH  STREET 
From  a  charcoal  drawing  by  Charles  S.  Chapman 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  LIBRARY 
It  was  in  the  little  front  room  at  49  West  Twenty- 
second  Street  that  the  club  library  had  its  begin- 
nings. A  number  of  books  seem  to  have  been 
previously  contributed  by  members,  and  the 
writer  of  this  history  had  been  in  some  way  con- 
stituted librarian,  but  the  books  were  not  listed 
or  numbered.  In  November,  1891,  without  any 
more  definite  date,  the  following  circular  was 
issued  to  members: 

"  49  West  22dSt. 
"November,  1891. 

"Mr.  

"Dear  Sir: 

"  Near  the  close  of  the  last  Club  season  a 
movement  was  started  to  found  a  library  for  the 
Club.  It  is  desired  that  each  member  shall  con- 
tribute one  or  more  books.  Books  on  art  subjects, 
or  valuable  for  their  illustrations,  are  preferred: 
but  all  good  literature  is  acceptable.  We  have 
already  over  100  volumes  contributed  by  zealous 
members.  We  are  also  collecting  and  arranging 


C  96  ] 


a  series  of  catalogues  of  the  various  art  organiza- 
tions and  will  soon  have  bound  a  complete  set  of 
the  catalogues  of  this  Society.  It  is  desirable  that 
when  a  catalogue  of  the  library  shall  be  begun,  it 
will  be  possible  to  credit  to  each  donor  his  offer- 
ings. To  that  end  pasters  are  prepared,  which 
will  be  filled  in  with  the  name  of  donor,  date  of 
gift,  etc.,  by  the  librarian.  Hoping  to  enlist  your 
interest  and  pride  in  the  work,  this  circular  is  ad- 
dressed to  each  member  of  the  Club.  Contribu- 
tions may  be  sent  to  the  librarian. 

"By  the  House  Committee 

"W.  H.  Shelton,  Librarian" 

The  first  book  given  to  the  club  for  a  future 
library  was  entitled  "Salmagundi,  A  Miscellane- 
ous Collection  of  Original  Poetry,"  and  was  the 
gift  of  William  F.  Round,  on  March  31,  1880. 
This  was  during  the  second  period  of  the  meet- 
ings at  896  Broadway  and  just  ten  years  before 
the  circular  was  issued  for  the  start  of  a  library. 
Mr.  Round  was  not  a  member,  but  had  been  a 
guest  of  the  club  and  contributed  the  book  on 
account  of  the  name. 

The  hundred  books  mentioned  as  already  in 
the  library  are  interesting  as  the  nucleus  of  a  li- 


[  97  : 


brary  already  famous.  They  were  probably  con- 
tributed at  my  request,  and  it  is  likely  that  I 
began  by  putting  in  a  few  books  I  had  brought 
from  home  when  I  came  to  New  York.  These 
were,  as  I  remember,  three  volumes  of  Prescott's 
"Ferdinand  and  Isabella,"  a  "Life  of  Fremont," 
several  stray  volumes  of  the  "Idler"  and  the 
"Tatler,"  and  a  bound  copy  of  the  "New  York 
Mirror"  for  1836,  on  the  fly-leaf  of  which  may  be 
seen  a  penciled  head  of  my  father,  made  when  I 
was  a  schoolboy.  J.  S.  Hartley  gave  the  "En- 
cyclopaedia Americana"  in  fourteen  volumes. 
Alexander  C.  Morgan  contributed  four  volumes 
of  Macaulay's  "History  of  England."  Verplanck 
Birney  gave  a  set  of  twelve  volumes  of  the 
"Works  of  Schiller"  in  German,  distinguished 
with  the  book-plate  of  Hamilton  Fish.  When  the 
"paster,"  which  was  the  first  book-plate  of  the 
club,  was  put  into  use,  the  first  volume  of  Schiller 
was  No.  1  in  the  Salmagundi  Library,  but,  later, 
the  right  of  first  place  was  conceded  to  the  gift  of 
Mr.  Round,  and  the  first  volume  of  Schiller 
became  No.  la. 

C.  E.  Proctor  gave  "Encyclopaedia  of  Painters 
and  Painting,"  four  volumes;  F.  B.  Schell,  "Pic- 
turesque Canada,"  two  volumes;  Freddy  Bartlet, 


C  98  ] 


Dr.  Liibke's  "History  of  Art";  Franklin  Tuttle, 
Tuckerman's  "Book  of  the  Artists";  Hamilton 
Gibson,  his  new  book,  "Sharp  Eyes";  Miss  Alice 
Dunleavy,  a  "History  of  Portugal"  (1752);  Mrs. 
Rhoda  Holmes  Nicholls,  Howells's  "  Venetian 
Life,"  two  volumes.  There  were  such  books  as 
"Modern Billiards,"  "Cushing's  Manual,"  "Pock- 
et Hoyle,"  "Cavendish  on  Whist,"  and  "Cattle 
and  Dairy  Farming."  Probably  the  first  hundred 
books  mentioned  in  the  circular  were  given  pre- 
cedence in  the  numbering.  No.  101  is  Spooner's 
"Anecdotes  of  Painters." 

Mr.  J.  Sanford  Saltus  joined  the  club  in  the 
following  year,  and  gave  to  the  library  his  first 
contribution  (No.  266  on  the  old  accession  list), 
Burton's  "Pilgrimage  to  El  Medinah  and  Mec- 
cah."  Mr.  Saltus's  activity  in  the  library  began 
after  the  removal  to  the  Twelfth  Street  house.  In 
the  fall  of  1898  he  transferred  to  the  club,  from 
his  own  library,  two  hundred  books  and  portfolios, 
among  which  was  a  small  collection  of  curious  old 
and  black-letter  books.  Of  these  the  oldest  work 
is  entitled  "Commentaris  Super  Opera  Di verso- 
rum  Auctorum,"  etc.,  by  Annius  (J.  Viterbensis), 
printed  in  double  columns  of  Gothic  and  Roman 
letter,  without  pagination  or  catchwords,  at 


J.  Sanford  Saltus 
In  Court  Costume  of  Edward  VII 

PORTRAIT   BY   GEORGE   M.  REEVS 


[  99  J 


Rome  in  the  year  1498,  by  Euchorium  Silber.  A 
book  printed  in  1513,  in  Gothic  text  black  letter, 
entitled  "Baldi  et  Sanfranci,"  shows  in  a  quaint 
woodcut  on  the  title-page  Mr.  Baldus  handing 
the  Magnum  Opus,  which  seems  to  be  a  digest  of 
the  laws  of  Burgundy,  to  Mr.  Sanfrancus. 

"The  Secretes  of  the  Reverend  Maister  Alexis 
of  Piedmont,  containyng  excellente  remedies 
against  diverse  diseases,  woundes,  &c,"  is  "trans- 
lated out  of  Frenche  into  Englishe  by  Willyam 
Warde,"  and  printed  in  Gothic  type  for  "  Jhon 
Wight,  London,  1580";  "A  Treatise  of  the 
Sibyls,  &c,  particularly  concerning  the  middle 
state  of  Souls,  written  Originally  by  David  Blon- 
del;  Englished  by  J.  D.,  London.  Printed  by 
T.  R.  for  the  Authour,  and  are  to  be  sold  by 
Thomas  Dring,  at  the  George  in  Fleet-street, 
near  Cliff ords-Inne,  1661." 

"The  Prognostications  of  Michael  Nostrada- 
mus, Physician  to  Henry  II.,  Francis  II.  and 
Charles  IX.,  Kings  of  France,  and  one  of  the  best 
Astronomers  that  ever  were,"  London,  1672. 
These  prophecies  are  in  French  verse  followed 
by  a  literal  English  translation.  In  the  Preface 
to  the  reader,  M.  Theophilus  Garencieres,  the 
translator,  makes  the  following  amusing  state- 


C  100  i 


ment:  "This  book  (The  Prognostications  of 
Michael  Nostradamus  —  one  of  the  best  astron- 
omers that  ever  were)  was  the  first  after  my 
Primmer  wherein  I  did  learn  to  read,  it  being 
then  the  Custom  in  France,  about  the  year  1618, 
to  initiate  Children  by  that  Book;  First  because 
of  the  crabbidness  of  the  words;  Secondly  that 
they  might  be  acquainted  with  the  old  and  obso- 
lete French,  such  as  is  now  used  in  the  English 
Law;  and  Thirdly  for  the  delightfulness  and  vari- 
ety of  the  matter,  so  that  this  Book  (imp.  octavo, 
pp.  522)  in  those  days  was  printed  every  year 
like  an  Almanach,  or  a  Primmer  for  Children." 

Among  these  old  books  is  a  perfect  copy  of 
Topsell's  Gesner's  "The  Historie  of  Four-footed 
Beastes,"  printed  in  London  in  1607,  fifty-one 
years  older  than  the  edition  owned  by  the  New 
York  Public  Library.  The  book-plate  of  Thomas 
Blyth,  M.A.,  F.A.S.,  adorns  the  cover,  and  one 
can  almost  see  the  old  gentleman  gazing  with  awe 
on  the  scaly  gorgon  of  the  title-page  or  at  the  true 
picture  of  the  Lamia  on  page  153,  which  shows 
the  head  and  breasts  of  a  woman  on  the  body  of 
a  dog  covered  with  scales,  its  forward  feet  ter- 
minating in  claws  and  its  hind  feet  being  cleft 
hoofs. 


C  101  H 


When  the  renaissance  of  the  club  began  in 
1898,  with  the  semi-monthly  dinners  in  the  old 
Rogers  Studio,  the  library  shared  in  the  forward 
movement.  Since  1890,  when  a  few  books  were 
brought  together,  for  eight  years  William  H. 
Shelton  had  been  librarian  by  common  consent. 
The  office  of  librarian  was  not  recognized  in  the 
constitution,  and  on  February  1  of  that  year  a 
motion  was  made  so  to  change  the  constitution  as 
to  provide  for  the  "appointment"  of  a  librarian. 
At  the  following  election  the  acting  librarian  was 
made  a  real  librarian  by  an  official  ballot. 

Soon  thereafter  a  proposal  was  made  by  the 
librarian,  which  was  the  beginning  of  one  of  the 
most  interesting  customs  of  the  club  and  one 
which  has  furnished  the  library  with  an  ample 
income  from  that  day  to  this.  The  idea  suggested 
was  that  twenty-four  mugs  or  steins  be  decorated 
each  year  and  sold  at  auction  at  the  library  din- 
ner for  the  benefit  of  the  library.  Each  member 
of  the  club  at  that  time  had  his  own  private  mug, 
decorated  by  himself,  or  for  him  by  a  professional 
friend,  with  his  name  burned  in  under  the  glaze 
at  the  Volkmar  Pottery.  These  suggested  the 
library  mugs,  and  limiting  the  yearly  output  for 
the  library  sale  was  a  plan  to  keep  up  prices. 


C  102  3 


These  mugs  were  to  be  decorated  by  a  selected 
number  of  artists,  each  mug  numbered  and 
signed.  This  plan  met  with  prolonged  opposition 
from  a  faction  who  believed  that  an  unlimited 
number  of  mugs  sold  at  a  large  reception  would 
yield  a  larger  revenue.  One  enthusiastic  member 
offered  to  furnish  sixty  mugs  decorated  and 
burned  at  his  own  expense,  to  be  sold  at  a  recep- 
tion or  "stag."  Fortunately,  as  experience  has 
proved,  the  original  plan  of  the  limited  number  of 
mugs  prevailed,  although  the  librarian  of  that 
day  never  dreamed  that  one  of  the  twenty-four 
would  be  sold  at  the  dinner-table  for  a  thousand 
dollars. 

Eighteen  years  have  passed  since  the  first  li- 
brary-dinner auction.  The  customs  of  a  club  are 
those  pleasant  functions  of  periodical  recurrence 
which  give  it  character  and  charm,  but  which  are 
usually  the  ripened  fruit  of  a  slow  growth.  This 
custom,  however,  of  decorating  twenty-four  ex- 
libris  mugs  to  be  sold  at  the  library  dinner  was 
born  to  the  Salmagundians  full-fledged  •  and 
launched  on  the  high  tide  of  success  from  its  in- 
ception. The  first  of  these  library  sales  took  place 
after  the  dinner  on  May  6,  1899,  and  the  modest 
sum  realized  was  three  hundred  and  ninety-seven 


I  103  3 


dollars.  Walter  Shirlaw  was  the  guest  of  honor 
and  the  highest  price  of  the  evening,  sixty  dollars, 
was  paid  for  Mr.  Shirlaw's  mug,  which  was  prob- 
ably a  graceful  compliment  accorded  by  Mr.  Sal- 
tus  to  the  guest  of  the  library. 

On  April  1,  1898,  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  secure  a  book-plate  for  the  library,  which 
resulted  in  what  was  announced  as  the  "Ex-Lib- 
ris  Dinner"  and  which  was  really  the  first  of 
the  Annual  Library  Dinners.  It  was  known  as 
"Book-Plate  Night."  The  committee  consisted 
of  Thomson  Willing,  Alexander  W.  Drake,  and 
the  librarian.  As  a  result  of  this  movement,  Mr. 
Clarkson  Cowl  offered  a  prize  of  sixty  dollars  for 
the  best  design  for  a  book-plate.  The  prize  was 
awarded  to  the  pen-drawing  of  George  Elmer 
Browne,  which  was  reproduced  in  facsimile  and 
printed  on  thin  Japanese  paper  and  is  still  in 
use  as  the  book-plate  of  the  Salmagundi  Club. 

The  second  sale  of  mugs  at  the  library  dinner 
of  1900  brought  six  hundred  and  thirteen  dollars, 
one  mug  selling  for  one  hundred  dollars.  In  1891, 
at  the  third  sale,  the  amount  received  at  the  auc- 
tion fell  back  to  five  hundred  and  fifteen  dollars, 
and  rose  again  in  1902  to  eight  hundred  and  five 
dollars.  One  of  the  mugs  decorated  by  Howard 


C  104  3 


Pyle  sold  for  a  hundred  dollars.  In  1904  Mr. 
Ritschel's  mug  brought  one  hundred  and  eighty 
dollars,  and  in  1905  a  mug  decorated  by  Mr.  Cor- 
win  Knapp  Linson  sold  for  two  hundred  and  two 
dollars.  Thus  the  price  of  single  mugs  was  stead- 
ily soaring,  due  entirely  to  the  progressive  gener- 
osity of  one  buyer. 

In  1906  the  sale  was  of  unusual  interest  and  the 
prices  rose  to  an  aggregate  of  eleven  hundred  and 
eighty-five  dollars.  In  that  year's  collection  was 
a  mug  decorated  by  Edwin  A.  Abbey.  The  li- 
brarian had  had  a  wooden  box  made  in  which  the 
white  mug  traveled  to  London  and  returned  in 
the  unburned  state.  The  decoration  was  one  of 
Abbey's  quaint  and  playful  designs.  An  English 
village  inn,  with  barmaid  in  the  door,  is  pictured 
on  one  side  of  the  mug,  and  on  the  other  are  three 
very  Abbeyesque  figures  —  a  jolly  roysterer  with 
pipe  and  bowl,  a  bell-ringer,  ringing;  and  between 
the  two  a  half-tipsy  Puritan,  whom  they  are  evi- 
dently leading  astray,  and  circling  the  top  and 
bottom  of  the  mug  this  rollicking  couplet: 

"He  that  will  not  merry,  merry  be,  with  generous  bowl  and 
toast, 

May  he  in  Bridewell  be  shut  up  and  fast  bound  to  a 
post." 


* 


C  105.  ] 


There  was  a  sharp  contest  in  the  bidding  for 
the  Abbey  mug  and  also  for  a  mug  by  Howard 
Pyle.  Mr.  George  A.  Hearn  had  sent  in  a  bid  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  for  the  Abbey  mug. 
The  two  coveted  pieces  of  delft,  however,  went 
into  Mr.  Saltus's  collection,  the  Abbey  for  four 
hundred  and  sixty-one  dollars  and  the  Pyle  for 
two  hundred  and  sixty  dollars.  This  was  real 
bidding,  which  was  not  always  the  case,  as,  for 
instance,  in  the  following  year  a  mug  decorated 
by  F.  Luis  Mora  sold  at  the  dinner-table  for  five 
hundred  and  five  dollars.  This  was  a  sum  sent 
over  by  Mr.  Saltus,  who  was  then  in  Nice,  with 
the  simple  direction,  "Buy  me  a  mug."  He 
wished  to  place  that  sum  in  the  library  and  he 
wished  to  do  it  in  his  own  way.  As  it  was  known 
that  he  always  wished  his  undivided  contribution 
to  be  expended  for  one  mug,  it  was  the  custom  to 
begin  the  sale  by  offering  the  first  choice,  and 
when  these  large  sums  had  to  be  expended  on  one 
mug  there  was  an  amusing  competition  of  irre- 
sponsible bids,  by  such  of  us  as  were  in  the  secret, 
until  the  desired  sum  was  reached. 

By  this  time  the  library  committee  was  very 
proud  of  the  sums  realized  at  the  library  dinners 
and  of  the  big  prices  paid  for  single  mugs,  so  in 


\ 


C  106  ^ 


1908,  at  the  tenth  library  dinner,  Dr.  Billings, 
then  at  the  head  of  the  Astor  Library,  was  made 
the  guest  of  honor.  Imagine  our  disappointment 
when  the  sum  realized  from  that  year's  sale  fell  to 
three  hundred  and  twenty-two  dollars  and  fifty 
cents,  the  smallest  return  from  any  library  sale. 

At  the  1909  dinner  a  mug  by  F.  K.  M.  Rehn 
sold  for  five  hundred  and  fifty-five  dollars,  and  in 
1911  a  mug  signed  by  Ballard  Williams  sold  for 
six  hundred  and  sixty-two  dollars,  a  sum  more 
than  double  the  amount  of  the  entire  evening's 
receipts  at  the  Billings  dinner. 

In  1910  the  sum  realized  from  the  dinner-sale 
was  eleven  hundred  and  fifty-four  dollars,  and  in 
1911  it  was  eleven  hundred  and  eighteen  dollars. 
After  the  first  few  years  the  burning  of  the  de- 
signs under  a  heavy  glaze  at  the  Volkmar  Pot- 
tery was  abandoned  for  burning  without  glaze, 
which  better  preserved  the  delicacy  of  the  deco- 
rated surface.  In  1911  the  new  shape  of  the  mugs, 
designed  and  made  at  the  Lenox  Pottery  at 
Trenton,  New  Jersey,  made  their  appearance. 
In  1912  the  mugs  brought  seven  hundred  and 
twelve  dollars  at  the  fourteenth  annual  dinner- 
sale.  The  total  amount  realized  for  the  library 
fund  from  these  fourteen  sales  at  the  dinner-table 


t  107  ] 


was  ninety-seven  hundred  and  forty-two  dol- 
lars. 

In  1914,  Mr.  Charles  Frederick  Naegele  was 
made  librarian.  He  succeeded  Mr.  Albert  A. 
Southwick,  who  had  succeeded  Dr.  Henry  S.  Op- 
penheimer,  who  had  taken  the  library  in  1908 
from  Mr.  Shelton,  the  first  librarian.  Mr.  Naegele 
caused  the  library  books  to  be  renumbered  and 
recatalogued  on  an  elaborate  card  system  admir- 
ably suited  to  a  library  that  was  complete.  In- 
stead of  the  usual  mug  sale  for  revenue,  the  new 
librarian  designed  an  elaborate  jewel  box,  with 
an  oval  on  the  lid  and  circular  side  panels  for 
decoration.  Forty  of  these  boxes  were  decorated 
and  sold  on  the  evening  of  March  8,  1915,  in  the 
Rose  Parlor  at  the  Plaza  Hotel.  The  sum  realized 
at  the  sale  was  three  thousand  dollars.  The  boxes 
cost  about  fifteen  dollars  each  before  they  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  artists  for  the  decorations, 
which  were  painted  in  oil.  After  the  sale  a  liberal 
sum  was  divided  among  the  decorators,  so  that  in 
the  end  the  net  result  was  not  greater  than  under 
the  old  system.  There  was  so  much  opposition  to 
the  new  idea  that  it  was  not  continued  in  1916. 
There  was  a  lapse  in  the  mug-dinners  from  1915 
to  1917.  Mr.  Raymond  Perry  was  elected  libra- 


C  108  3 


rian  in  1916,  and  on  the  30th  day  of  January, 
1917,  the  old  custom  was  resumed.  The  first  li- 
brarian was  the  guest  of  honor  at  the  library  din- 
ner and  Mr.  Saltus  sat  on  his  right.  When  first 
choice  was  offered  to  start  the  sale,  Mr.  Vezin 
made  a  generous  bid  of  one  hundred  dollars, 
which  was  followed  by  an  unusual  and  ominous 
silence.  It  was  believed  that  Mr.  Saltus  was  de- 
termined to  make  this  particular  dinner  a  great 
financial  success,  but  how  it  was  to  be  done  did 
not  yet  appear.  After  several  more  mugs  had 
been  sold  he  confided  to  the  guest  of  the  evening 
that  he  was  about  to  buy  a  mug  for  one  thousand 
and  one  dollars: 
"Bid  against  me." 

So  in  the  midst  of  tumultuous  applause  and 
hilarity  the  mug  decorated  by  Mr.  William  Fair 
Kline  was  the  first  mug  to  pass  the  thousand- 
dollar  milestone  at  a  Salmagundian  Library  din- 
ner. The  total  of  the  evening  sale  was  fourteen 
hundred  and  seventy-seven  dollars. 

Since  the  first  mug-dinner  the  library  has  had 
money  to  spend.  For  the  first  two  years  its  fund 
was  deposited  with  the  treasurer  of  the  club,  but 
when  the  office  was  established  with  a  book- 
keeper at  the  desk,  and  the  new  treasurer  came 


COSTUMES  OF  THE 


THE  ♦  SALMAGUNDI  •  CLU 5 
NEW  YORK  M  CM 


TITLE-PAGE 

Designed  by  Thomson  Willing :  Head  by  F.  Luis  Mora 


t  109  3 


in,  the  library  balance  of  two  hundred  dollars 
had  disappeared.  Since  that  time  one  member  of 
the  library  committee  has  been  treasurer  and  the 
club  has  had  no  control  of  the  funds  of  the  library. 

The  library  of  the  Salmagundi  Club  is  a  library 
for  artists.  It  is  not  large,  but  in  several  respects 
it  is  a  unique  library,  largely  embodying  the  pe- 
culiar tastes  of  one  man,  for  it  is  a  library  with 
an  "angel,"  who  appeared  unawares  when  Mr. 
J.  Sanford  Saltus  brought  in  his  first  book,  "The 
Pilgrimage  to  El  Medinah  and  Meccah,"  to  the 
little  collection  at  40  West  Twenty-second  Street, 
since  which  Mr.  Saltus  has  contributed,  in  value, 
if  not  in  numbers,  more  than  one  half  of  the  li- 
brary. It  is  unique  in  containing,  probably,  the 
most  complete  collection  of  costume  books  in 
America.  Out  of  less  than  five  thousand  volumes, 
more  than  seven  hundred  are  on  costumes,  in- 
cluding most  of  the  rare  and  curious  works  on 
that  subject  published  in  Europe  at  about  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

At  one  of  the  early  meetings  in  the  old  Rogers 
Studio,  a  few  fashion  plates  from  "Godey's 
Lady's  Book"  were  displayed  on  the  wall,  which 
were  the  forerunners  of  the  unique  set  of  twenty 
volumes  of  "The  Costumes  of  the  Nineteenth 


C  no  3 

Century."  The  compiling  of  this  work,  however, 
which  continued  during  more  than  two  years,  was 
not  undertaken  until  the  library  had  money  of  its 
own,  which  was  after  the  first  sale  of  library  mugs 
in  the  following  year.  The  first  investment  for 
this  work  was  the  purchase  of  a  collection  of  fash- 
ion plates,  mostly  English.  Each  volume  of  the 
set  covers  a  period  of  five  years  and  as  far  as  pos- 
sible twenty-four  original  plates  were  collected 
for  each  year.  As  the  work  advanced,  plates  for 
several  of  the  years  were  secured  with  extreme 
difficulty  by  Mr.  Saltus  in  the  old  book-stalls  of 
London,  Paris,  Cannes,  and  Nice.  The  plates 
were  mounted  by  the  same  expert,  then  past 
eighty  years  old,  who  did  the  mounting  and  in- 
laying of  the  famous  volumes  compiled  by  Dr. 
Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  which  are  now  in  the  New 
York  Public  Library.  The  title-pages,  designed 
by  Mr.  Thomson  Willing,  and  the  three  prefaces 
are  illuminated,  and  the  title-page  of  each  vol- 
ume is  centered  with  a  head  painted  and  signed  by 
an  artist  member  of  the  club.  The  first  quarto 
volume,  1800-1805,  has  a  water-color  head  on 
the  title-page  by  F.  Luis  Mora.  The  other  artists 
on  the  title-pages,  in  order  of  sequence,  are  James 
Symington,  George  Elmer  Browne,  M.  Sandor, 


* 


C  in  3 

William  Verplanck  Birney,  E.  L.  Henry,  J.  San- 
ford  Saltus,  William  E.  Hays,  H.  C.  Edwards, 
Genjiro  Yeto,  Gordon  Grant,  W.  A.  Schneider, 
Frank  Russell  Green,  W.  C.  Ostrander,  J.  G. 
Brown,  F.  S.  Church,  George  W.  Maynard,  Wal- 
ter Shirlaw,  Hy.  Mayer,  and  Carroll  Beckwith. 

Another  subject  in  which  Mr.  Saltus  is  inter- 
ested is  the  mystery  of  the  French  dauphin, 
Louis  XVII,  and  on  this  subject  the  library  has 
the  largest  collection  in  the  country.  The  library 
is  rich  in  technical  books  on  art  subjects,  and  in 
biographies  of  painters,  including  selections  from 
the  library  of  the  late  John  La  Farge,  and  in 
early  books  illustrated  in  aquatint. 

Some  of  the  rare  books  are:  the  "Souvenir  of 
the  Bal  Costume"  given  by  Queen  Victoria  at 
Buckingham  Palace,  May  12,  1842,  many  of  the 
portraits  of  the  noble  guests  autographed;  "Une 
Femme  de  Qualite  au  Siecle  Passe,"  illustrated 
by  Maurice  Leloir,  2  vols.,  folio,  and  "The  Coro- 
nation of  James  II,"  London,  1687.  On  the  dia- 
gram of  the  banquet  tables  in  Westminster  Hall, 
plate  133  is  " Salmagundy,"  plate  117  is  "Peri- 
winkles," and  plate  73  is  "Pettitoes  hot." 

The  library  possesses  a  unique  folio,  its  heavy 
covers  stamped  with  the  imperial  arms  of  Russia; 


C  112  3 

"  Collection  —  88  Aquarelles  Chinoises  .  .  .  pour 
S.M.  L'Empereur  de  Russie."  The  eighty-eight 
aquarelles  are  full-page  Chinese  water-colors,  on 
rice  paper  heavily  mounted,  of  flowers,  with  their 
attendant  butterflies  or  moths;  "Indian  Tribes  of 
North  America,"  M'Kenney  and  Hall,  Philadel- 
phia, 1838,  3  vols.,  folio;  "Victories  of  the  Duke 
of  Wellington,"  from  drawings  of  R.  W.  Westall, 
R.  A.  London,  1819;  large-paper  'folio;  "Acker- 
mann's  Repository  of  Arts,"  London,  1809-1828, 
40  vols.  This  fine  octavo  set,  bound  in  old  tree 
calf,  contains,  in  some  of  the  earlier  volumes,  a 
unique  form  of  advertising,  a  distinguished  fore- 
runner of  the  magazine  advertising  of  the  present 
day.  Several  forms  of  woodcut  pages  provide 
rectangular  blank  spaces  (in  one  case  these  are  on 
the  wings  of  a  windmill)  on  which  are  mounted 
samples  of  woven  fabrics  and  fancy  papers  of 
that  period,  which  are  as  fresh  and  bright  as 
when  they  were  put  on  a  hundred  years  ago; 
"Costumes  Militaires  Fran^ais,  depuis  l'organi- 
sation  des  premieres  troupes  regulieres  en  1439 
jusqu'en  1789."  3  vols.,  folio,  Paris,  1850. 

For  many  years  the  library  dinners  were  as 
unique  in  their  artistic  setting  as  in  their  method 
of  raising  a  revenue.  The  late  Alexander  W. 


LIBRARY.  14  WEST  12TH  STREET 
From  a  charcoal  drawing  by  Charles  S.  Chapman 


c  113  n 


Drake,  who  was  a  member  of  the  club  and  a 
friend  of  the  library,  always  contributed  of  his 
famous  collection  of  brasses  for  the  decoration  of 
the  gallery  and  the  tables.  The  "blazer,"  the 
bottom  of  a  huge  sugar  boiler,  battered  into 
many  glittering  faces,  had  its  annual  place  be- 
hind the  president,  and  superimposed  upon  a 
background  of  rugs  were  every  conceivable  form 
of  brazen  plaque,  platter,  plate,  dish,  disk,  me- 
dallion, bas-relief,  and  bed-warmer  covers,  gleam- 
ing from  the  four  walls,  and  the  tables  were 
lighted  by  candles  in  brass  candlesticks  and  an- 
tique candelabra,  and  at  the  head  of  the  table, 
the  four  great  Russian  candlesticks  stood  high 
among  the  roses.  It  was  easy  money,  the  din- 
ners brought  a  golden  shower,  and  it  was  long  the 
ambition  of  one  librarian  to  come  to  the  library 
dinner  with  an  empty  treasury,  asking  to  be 
filled  again. 

As  already  stated,  the  library  had  its  beginning 
in  the  little  front  room  at  49  West  Twenty-second 
Street,  and  found  a  new  lodgment  at  No.  40, 
where  the  magazines  were  spread  out  on  a  library 
table  and  bound  at  the  end  of  the  year  to  increase 
the  number  of  volumes  on  the  shelves.  The  li- 


C  114  3 


brary-room,  which  was  a  reading-room  as  well, 
was  a  sort  of  alcove  screened  from  the  billiard- 
room  by  a  low  partition  against  which  the  book- 
shelves were  built.  It  was  here  that  Mr.  Saltus 
came  to  the  aid  of  the  library,  and  such  activity 
followed  that  at  the  end  of  two  years  the  collec- 
tion of  books  made  the  journey  to  Twelfth  Street 
in  a  number  of  great  baskets  and  was  considered 
quite  a  formidable  collection. 

In  the  Twelfth  Street  house  it  grew  and 
climbed  and  expanded  and  extended  for  twenty 
active  years,  beginning  in  a  large  room  of  its  own, 
climbing  gradually  to  the  ceiling,  expanding  into 
alcove  cases  and  extending  its  area  by  creeping 
through  the  hall  until  it  lined  the  walls  of  the 
card-room  and  claimed  the  entire  third  floor  of 
the  house  for  its  domain. 

In  its  third  and  last  move  the  library  migrated 
in  one  hundred  boxes,  in  which  it  remained  on 
storage  for  two  months  before  going  upon  the 
new  shelves  in  its  handsome  oak  room  at  47  Fifth 
Avenue,  which  is  sixty  feet  long,  its  two  front 
windows  looking  across  at  the  Magdalen  tower 
of  the  Old  First  Church. 


CHAPTER  VII 

SOME  SOCIAL  OCCASIONS 
Sir,  you  are  welcome  to  our  Club 
Beginning  with  that  very  interesting  and  very 
enthusiastic  period  in  1898  when  the  semi- 
monthly dinners,  cooked  in  the  laundry  by  the 
former  chef  of  the  Brevoort  House,  and  served  in 
the  Rogers  Studio,  the  Salmagundi  Club  has  been 
a  dining-club.  The  dining  habit  has  finally  crys- 
tallized into  five  set  functions  in  the  club  year; 
the  "Get-together"  dinner  in  the  fall  when  the 
painter  members  get  in  from  their  summer's  work 
on  the  shore,  in  the  fields,  and  in  the  distant  moun- 
tains: the  "Get-away"  dinner  in  the  spring  when 
the  same  professionals  are  about  to  get  away  again 
with  palette  and  brush;  and  midway  between 
these  two  dinners,  the  "Keep-together"  dinner. 

Once  during  the  winter  a  distinguished  painter 
or  sculptor  is  entertained  at  dinner.  In  1917  it 
was  George  de  Forest  Brush,  who  was  the  painter 
guest  of  the  club,  and  in  1916  the  club  enter- 
tained J.  Alden  Weir,  the  former  president  of  the 
National  Academy  of  Design.  The  fifth  annual 
dinner  is  the  library  dinner  at  which  the  twenty- 


c  116  n 


four  decorated  steins,  as  heretofore  described,  are 
sold  at  auction  for  the  library  fund.  The  costume 
dinner,  formerly  a  fixture,  is  growing  more  and 
more  irregular,  although  the  two  Saltus  gold 
medals  are  always  forthcoming,  one  for  the  best 
costume  worn  by  a  club  member  and  another  for 
the  best  costume  worn  by  a  guest.  These  medals 
are  awarded  by  a  popular  vote.  The  successful 
costume  has  usually  involved  a  studied  charac- 
terization, well  acted,  and  usually  of  some  hum- 
ble type,  and  not  a  showy  dress  from  the  shelves 
of  a  costumer.  On  one  occasion  a  member,  who 
was  an  opera  singer,  appeared  in  a  satin  coat  and 
knee  breeches,  silk  stockings  and  a  powdered 
wig,  and  resigned  in  disgust  because  the  gold 
medal  was  captured  by  a  bashful  little  Zuni 
maiden  in  a  very  plain  skirt  and  leggings.  Medals 
have  been  voted  to  a  blanketed  Indian,  other- 
wise clothed  in  red  paint  and  an  eagle's  feather; 
to  a  Zulu  bushman  with  brush  tied  to  the  calves 
of  his  legs;  to  Napoleon  Bonaparte;  to  a  powder- 
stained  artillery  driver  of  the  Civil  War;  and  on 
one  occasion,  to  a  venturesome  monkey,  who  ran 
grimacing  through  the  pool  of  water  that  formed 
the  center  of  the  long  head  table,  scattering  the 
goldfish  and  spray. 


HALLOWEEN  DINNER,  14  WEST  12TH  STREET 
From  a  charcoal  drawing  by  Charles  S.  Chapman 


C  117  3 


There  is  another  annual  dinner,  though  not 
entirely  a  club  affair,  given  by  Mr.  Samuel  T. 
Shaw  to  the  winner  of  his  purchase-prize  picture 
in  the  Oil  Exhibition.  The  dinner  is  served  on  a 
table  shaped  like  a  horseshoe,  the  guests  sitting 
on  the  outer  rim  for  the  rows  of  nails  and  Mr. 
Shaw  presiding  at  the  toe-calk.  The  center 
space,  within  the  horseshoe,  is  reserved  for  danc- 
ing or  for  some  other  form  of  spontaneous  enter- 
tainment. After  the  cloth  is  removed,  a  set  of 
paper  insets  is  disclosed  extending  around  the 
outer  rim  of  the  table,  on  which  the  artist  guests 
make  random  sketches  in  chalks  provided  for  the 
purpose.  Colored  reproductions  of  the  prize  pic- 
ture of  the  evening,  autographed  on  the  margin 
by  every  one  present  at  the  dinner,  are  the  sou- 
venirs of  these  occasions.  This  complimentary 
dinner  to  the  winner  of  the  Shaw  Prize  takes  place 
in  the  gallery  when  the  Annual  Oil  Exhibition  is 
hung,  just  one  year  after  the  prize  was  awarded. 

Another  function,  which  is  a  monthly  dinner 
(during  the  winter),  has  been  steadily  growing  in 
popularity.  On  one  Sunday  evening  in  each 
month  members  may  bring  their  wives  and 
sweethearts  to  a  dinner  which  is  usually  served 
in  the  gallery,  during  an  exhibition,  when  the 


C  118  3 


walls  are  hung  with  pictures.  A  musical  enter- 
tainment usually  follows  and  sometimes  dancing. 

The  hospitality  of  the  club  is  extended  to  sev- 
eral art  societies  for  their  annual  dinners  and  the 
fame  of  its  good  cooking  attracts  outside  frater- 
nities in  which  members  of  the  club  are  interested. 

The  popularity  of  the  dinners  was  to  the  credit 
of  Hugo  Pollock,  who  had  been  the  steward  of 
the  club  for  fifteen  years.  Between  his  appear- 
ance and  the  stewardship  of  Emil  Mehl,  whose 
father  was  the  retired  chef  of  the  Brevoort  House, 
several  stewards  have  presided  for  brief  and 
unsatisfactory  periods.  There  was  a  one-eyed 
party,  who,  having  been  steward  on  a  Gould 
yacht,  promptly  began  robbing  the  club  in  a 
thorough  and  practical  way,  born  of  his  experi- 
ence in  the  position  from  which  he  had  been  dis- 
charged. 

There  was  an  Italian,  the  proprietor  of  a  table- 
d'hote  restaurant  in  a  neighboring  street,  who 
promptly  proceeded  to  provide  the  wine  for  his 
restaurant  at  the  expense  of  the  club. 

There  was  a  third  experiment  that  proved  un- 
satisfactory, and  finally,  a  graduate  of  the  supply 
department  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  who 
lodged  in  the  house,  and  who  descended  the 


C  119  3 

stairs  in  the  morning  unfolding  a  fresh  pocket 
handkerchief  as  he  came  and  spent  most  of  the 
day  with  his  feet  on  the  desk  in  the  office. 

On  January  24, 1899,  the  club  gave  a  dinner  to 
its  former  presidents.  It  was  not  a  long  list  of 
presidential  guests.  Among  the  treasures  of  the 
club's  early  pottery,  made  just  before  this  din- 
ner, is  a  large  pitcher  decorated  with  the  heads  of 
its  first  six  presidents.  The  heads  on  the  pitcher 
are  those  of  Joseph  Hartley,  George  W.  May- 
nard,  C.  Y.  Turner,  Thomas  Moran,  Lewis 
Fraser,  and  A.  T.  Van  Laer,  drawn  by  the  late 
H.  Pruet  Share.  From  this  dinner  Mr.  Moran, 
the  fourth  president,  and  Mr.  Van  Laer,  the  sixth 
president,  were  absent.  Mr.  Van  Laer  had  just 
completed  his  first  term  as  president  of  the  Sal- 
magundi Club  and  Robert  C.  Minor,  who  was 
then  president,  presided.  It  is  the  custom  of 
some  clubs  to  retain  the  same  president  for  a 
generation,  if  he  proves  to  be  a  post-prandial  ora- 
tor, or  a  flowery  speaker,  but  it  has  been  the  way 
of  the  Salmagundi  Club  to  pass  the  honor  around. 
By  the  terms  of  the  constitution  the  president 
must  be  an  artist,  and  in  practice  his  rank  as  a 
painter  has  been  the  first  recommendation  for 
that  high  office. 


C  120  3 


So  the  Salmagundi  Club  has  had  many  presi- 
dents for  short  terms,  some  of  whom  have  pre- 
sided graciously  at  the  club  dinners.  This  presi- 
dential dinner  was  in  the  Rogers  Studio.  The 
following  is  quoted  from  the  "Tribune"  of  the 
next  morning:  "Some  music  was  given  after  the 
dinner.  After  this  Mr.  Minor  rose  and  in  a  brief 
speech  welcomed  the  ex-presidents.  He  said  that 
the  club  was  founded  twenty-eight  years  ago  by 
a  few  men  who  had  nothing  but  enthusiasm. 
Their  future  would  be  brightened  by  their  success 
in  the  past.  The  club  owed  a  great  deal  to  the 
men  who  had  presided  over  it,  and  he  hoped  that 
they  would  all  live  to  see  it  a  center  of  all  that 
was  valuable  and  interesting  in  the  art  life  of 
New  York  City." 

The  most  memorable  dinner  ever  given  in  the 
old  house  in  Twelfth  Street  was  the  dinner  given 
on  the  evening  of  the  2d  of  February,  1904,  by 
the  Salmagundi  Club  to  its  former  brother  in 
arms  the  Tile  Club.  The  Tile  Club  was  only  "a 
memory  then,  a  reminder  of  the  old  days  in  the 
Sarony  show  room  with  the  crocodiles  and  the 
mummies.  The  gallery  was  decorated  with  the 
seals  of  the  twenty-two  members  of  that  exclu- 
sive club.  Each  Tiler's  symbol  was  encircled  by 


C  121  ] 


his  Tile-name.  A  chestnut  burr  stood  for  Ned 
Abbey,  who  was  known  as  the  "Chestnut,"  from 
a  story  he  had  on  tap  that  never  ended;  an  owl 
was  the  seal  for  F.  Hopkinson  Smith,  who  was 
known  only  as  the  "Owl";  a  knife,  cross,  and 
crescent  for  Frank  Millet,  who  was  known  as  the 
*  "Bulgarian";  a  bishop's  hat  for  Gedney  Bunce, 
the  "Bishop";  a  head  in  a  high  ruff  for  William 
M.  Chase,  who  was  known  as  "Briareus";  a 
"Griffin"  for  Swain  Gifford;  a  conical  hat  for 
George  Boughton,  the  "Puritan";  a  lean  lion 
rampant  for  Alfred  Parsons,  "the  Englishman"; 
an  eagle's  head  for  Napoleon  Sarony,  who  was 
called  the  "Bird  of  Freedom";  for  Strahan  (pen- 
name  Earl  Shinn),  Tile-name  the  "Bone,"  a  shin 
bone;  for  William  Paton,  called  "Haggis,"  a 
ram's  skull;  for  Truslow,  a  friend  of  Abbey, 
known  as  the  "Boarder,"  a  knife  and  fork;  for 
J.  Alden  Weir,  known  as  "Cadmium,"  a  palette 
and  brushes;  for  Frederick  Dielman,  known  as 
the  "Terrapin,"  a  Baltimore  turtle;  a  ship  for 
Arthur  Quartley,  the  "Marine";  for  William  M. 

Laffan,  known  as  "  Polyphemus,"  a  head  with  one 

i 

eye;  for  Saint  Gaudens,  known  as  the  "Saint," 
just  a  head  in  a  halo;  a  Roman  head  for  Elihu 
Vedder,  "The  Pagan" ;  for  A.  B.  Frost,  an  icicle; 


t  122  ] 


for  Stanford  White,  known  as  the  "Builder,"  a 
beaver;  for  George  W.  Maynard,  known  as  the 
"Hawk,"  the  head  of  that  bird;  and  a  head  for 
Stanley  Reinhart,  who  was  known  as  "Sirius." 

And  these  were  the  seals  and  the  club  names  of 
twenty-two  Tilers,  as  shown  on  the  end  papers  of 
the  "Book  of  the  Tile  Club,"  made  in  Boston, 
by  Houghton  Mifflin  Conrpany,  and  the  marvel 
of  its  time. 

Not  all  were  expected,  for  "Sirius"  and  the 
"Marine"  and  the  "Bird  of  Freedom"  and  the 
"Bone"  had  already  passed  into  the  beyond. 
Furthermore,  letters  were  read  by  the  president, 
J.  Scott  Hartley,  from  the  "Chestnut,"  the 
"Englishman,"  and  the  "Puritan,"  then  in  Lon- 
don, from  the  "Pagan"  in  Rome,  and  from 
"Cadmium,"  the  "Icicle,"  the  "Builder,"  and 
from  "Briareus."  The  guests  of  the  Salmagun- 
dians,  former  Tilers,  who  sat  down  under  the 
great  frieze  of  seals,  were  the  "Owl,"  "Haggis," 
the  "Terrapin,"  the  "Griffin,"  the  "Bulgarian," 
the  "Hawk,"  "Polyphemus,"  the  "Saint,"  the 
"Bishop,"  and  the  four  musicians  of  the  old  club, 
William  Baird,  the  baritone,  Antonio  Knaus,  Dr. 
Lewenberg,  otherwise  "Catgut,"  and  Gustav 
Kobbe,  the  pianist. 


C  123  3 


The  "Owl"  was  the  orator  of  the  occasion,  in- 
terrupted and  guyed  by  the  "Bishop"  and  by 
the  "Bulgarian."  One  of  the  vivid  pictures  of 
that  dinner  that  comes  to  mind  is  of  "Poly- 
phemus" and  the  "Bulgarian"  making  a  loving- 
cup  of  a  stone  mug  and  brimming  it  over  with 
champagne.  Later  in  the  evening  a  telegram 
arrived  from  "Briareus"  announcing  the  safe 
arrival  of  a  daughter.  The  telegram  arrived 
while  Mr.  William  Baird,  the  baritone  of  the  old 
club,  was  singing,  "The  Bedouin  Love  Song": 

"  Oh,  gentle  wind,  oh,  tranquil  sea 
Send  home  my  golden  ships  to  me." 

The  company  rose  and  drank  the  health  of  the 
young  lady,  then  two  hours  old,  and  Dr.  Lewen- 
berg  borrowed  a  violin  from  the  orchestra  and 
played  a  cradle  song  of  his  own  composition. 

After  the  dinner  the  company  adjourned  to  the 
library  where  "The  Book  of  the  Tile  Club,"  a 
gift  from  the  "Owl,"  and  so  autographed,  was 
produced  and  each  of  the  Tilers  present  signed 
his  illustrations. 

There  was  one  privileged  member  of  the  Tile 
Club,  who  never  was  present  and  who  never  saw 
the  club.  This  was  George  H.  Boughton,  the 
London  painter  of  the  American  Puritan,  who 


I  124  a 


Abbey  said  was  all  sorts  of  a  good  fellow,  and  so 
he  was  made  a  member  of  the  club.  An  official 
seal  was  made  for  him  on  parchment  to  be  sent 
along  with  the  notification  of  his  election.  It  was 
promptly  decided  by  the  club  that  the  seal 
looked  too  new  and  that  what  it  needed  was  some 
decent  evidence  on  its  face  of  a  respectable  an- 
tiquity, so  it  was  properly  stained  and  then 
danced  upon  by  the  "Owl,"  the  "Chestnut,"  and 
the  "Builder"  and  all  the  other  Tilers  until  they 
were  exhausted,  and  then,  after  the  document 
had  been  sufficiently  abused  and  violated,  it 
was  forwarded  to  London,  where  it  was  framed 
and  hung  on  the  walls  of  George  Boughton's 
studio. 

From  that  goodly  company  of  Tilers,  who  dined 
with  the  Salmagundians  in  1904,  Death,  the 
Reaper,  has  called  ten.  The  "Bulgarian"  went 
down  with  the  Titanic;  the  "Puritan"  and  the 
"Griffin"  live  in  their  works;  the  "Saint"  in  his 
immortal  sculptures;  "Polyphemus"  as  the  suc- 
cessor of  Charles  A.  Dana;  the  "Beaver,"  victim 
of  an  assassin,  lives  in  poems  of  marble,  and  the 
"Chestnut,"  the  "Owl,"  "Briareus,"  and  the 
"Bishop"  in  their  works  and  in  the  hearts  of 
their  admirers. 


CARD-BOOM,  14  WEST  12TH  STREET 
From  a  charcoal  drawing  by  Charles  S.  Chapman 


C  125  3 


The  Tile  Club  was  never  intended,  like  the 
Century  Club  or  the  Salmagundi  Club,  to  de- 
velop into  a  permanent  organization  —  indeed,  if 
such  a  development  had  resulted,  it  would  have 
been  a  living  offense  to  the  spirit  of  its  founders. 
The  Tile  Club  was  born  in  maturity;  it  was  lim- 
ited in  membership  carefully  to  forestall  expan- 
sion; it  was  exclusive  and  perfectly  satisfied  with 
its  twenty-two  members  and  three  musicians.  It 
was  organized  at  No.  2  Union  Square,  in  an  attic 
studio  (afterwards  occupied  by  the  writer  of  this 
history) ,  all  of  which  is  fully  described  by  the '  *  Owl ' ' 
in  his  book, "  The  Wood  Fire  in  No.  3,"  only  read- 
ing "Tile  Club"  for  "Stone  Mugs." 

Madame  Blavatsky  flew  away  to  India  with 
one  of  the  original  members;  one  or  two  were 
eliminated;  but  nobody  ever  resigned,  for,  al- 
though its  habitat  was  New  York,  the  organiza- 
tion was  international;  it  had  no  non-resident 
members  —  no  dues  —  no  forms  —  no  officers  — 
it  never  met  officially  or  ever  adjourned. 

It  ceased  to  be  when  its  members  were  too 
widely  scattered  to  congregate  socially;  it  went 
out  like  a  candle  snuffed  by  the  wind  when  there 
was  no  one  at  hand  to  relight  it,  and  in  its  demise 
it  did  honor  to  the  purpose  of  its  founders. 


C  126  1 


It  has  long  been  a  custom  of  the  Salmagundi 
Club  to  have  a  Christmas  tree  on  an  evening  be- 
tween the  25th  of  December  and  the  1st  of  Jan- 
uary, at  which  gifts  are  exchanged  by  a  sort  of 
lottery.  The  gifts  are  limited  in  value  to  twenty- 
five  cents.  One  of  the  pleasant  recollections  of 
the  club  is  of  the  Christmas  tree  when  Mr.  Felix 
Lamond  was  chairman  of  the  entertainment  com- 
mittee, and  when  we  sat  around  the  lighted  tree, 
in  the  otherwise  darkened  gallery,  the  doors  were 
opened  and  the  robed  choir  of  Trinity  Chapel, 
with  book  and  candle,  filed  in  led  by  Mr.  La- 
mond, the  organist,  and  sang  Christmas  carols 
about  the  tree. 

Among  the  interesting  dinners  in  the  past  was 
one  given  to  the  sculptors  of  the  Dewey  Arch  in 
1899,  and  in  1901  a  dinner  was  given  to  Mr.  Louis 
C.  Tiffany  on  a  cast-iron  agreement  that  he 
should  not  be  called  on  for  a  speech. 

On  the  27th  of  February,  1906,  a  dinner  was 
given  to  Sir  Casper  Purdon  Clarke  and  his  lieu- 
tenants in  the  Metropolitan  Museum,  Mr.  Ed- 
ward Robinson  and  Mr.  Roger  E.  Frye.  It  was  a 
bohemian  affair  at  which  some  rather  startling 
stunts  were  pulled  off  to  the  surprise  and  the  de- 
light of  Sir  Purdon.  Mr.  Albert  Groll  performed 


t  127  3 

the  Grasshopper  Dance  to  a  violin  accompani- 
ment by  Mr.  Frank  de  Haven  and  the  club  re- 
peatedly sang  its  favorite  chorus: 

"There  was  an  old  man  named  Bill 
Who  lived  on  the  top  of  a  hill, 
He  got  drunk  in  October 
And  he  never  got  sober, 
And  I  don't  think  he  ever  will." 

On  April  30  in  the  following  year  a  dinner  was 
given  in  honor  of  the  Curators  and  Directors  of 
the  Public  Art  Galleries  of  America,  at  which 
Sir  Purdon,  as  Director  of  the  Metropolitan  Mu- 
seum, was  the  ranking  guest.  The  other  guests 
were  John  W.  Beatty,  of  the  Carnegie  Institute 
at  Pittsburgh;  Richard  N.  Brooke,  of  the  Cor- 
coran Art  Gallery  at  Washington;  John  G.  Hey- 
wood,  of  the  Worcester  Art  Museum;  A.  H. 
,  Bartlett,  of  the  Massachusetts  Normal  Art 
School;  John  E.  D.  Trask,  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Academy;  and  the  late  Charles  N.  Kurtz,  of  the 
Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy. 

The  Salmagundi  Club  has  been  famous  for  its 
cooking  and  for  the  artistic  decoration  of  its  public 
and  private  tables.  With  all  these  dinners  great 
and  small,  and  with  high  living  at  all  times,  the 
Salmagundians,  as  loyal  disciples  of  Rabelais,  were 
devouring  their  incomes,  much  as  Pantagruel  ate 


C  128  3 


his  wheat  in  the  ear,  and  scattered  his  revenue  of 
Cockchafers,  Locusts,  and  Periwinkles.  There 
was,  indeed,  the  economy  of  Salmagundi,  the  cat 
who  licked  up  the  crumbs  that  fell  from  the  table. 
He  was  called  " Gundy"  for  short,  and,  besides 
sleeping  in  the  most  comfortable  chairs,  he 
hunted  in  the  back  yards  at  night.  He  was  a 
spotted  beast  with  a  maltese  tail  and  having 
lived  his  short  life,  there  remained  behind  him 
sons  of  Gundy  with  maltese  tails,  sleeping  on  the 
doormats  of  half  the  "hospitable  vestibules"  in 
the  Washington  Square  region. 

Having  always  spent  its  income  generously  it 
is  not  strange  that  the  Salmagundi  Club  was 
usually  in  debt,  not  hopelessly  in  debt,  but  hope- 
fully, cheerfully  paying  bills  that  were  overdue, 
and  paying  rent  year  after  year  content  to  be 
possessed  of  no  real  property  or  any  permanent 
home  of  its  own. 

This  was  the  condition  at  the  beginning  of  the 
year  1917,  when  the  opportunity  came  to  buy 
No.  47  Fifth  Avenue,  and  locate  permanently  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Washington  Square.  In- 
stead of  issuing  bonds  to  raise  the  seventy-five 
thousand  dollars  needed  for  the  purchase  of  the 
property,  the  donations  of  loyal  and  public- 


C  129  3 


spirited  members  supplied  the  means  for  making 
a  substantial  first  payment  and  for  completing 
the  building  plans  and  the  extensive  alterations 
required.  The  laymen,  as  it  is  customary  to  call 
the  members  who  are  not  artists,  turned  their 
pockets  inside  out  to  the  tune  of  nineteen  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  the  offering  of  pictures  by  the 
artist  members,  at  a  three  nights'  sale,  brought 
twenty-one  thousand  dollars  in  good  red  gold 
instead  of  periwinkles.  An  artist  member  gen- 
erously contributed  an  additional  five  thousand 
dollars  and  other  donations  brought  the  sum  of 
the  voluntary  contributions  to  $46,571. 

The  purchase  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  property 
having  been  completed,  it  was  realized  that  the 
"Get-away"  dinner  of  1917  would  be  the  last  in 
the  old  house.  The  walls  of  the  gallery  were 
lined  with  a  heavy  gray  paper,  and  Mr.  F.  G. 
Cooper,  an  accomplished  cartoonist,  who  for 
many  years  has  drawn  the  diminutive  and  gro- 
tesque headings  for  the  editorials  in  "Life,"  was 
given  a  free  hand  in  the  decorations,  which  were 
not  diminutive. 

It  was  a  panorama  of  painters  already  away  at 
their  summer's  work,  who  had  turned  their  backs 
on  the  roof  that  had  sheltered  them  for  twenty 


C  130  3 


years.  There  were  painters  setting  up  their  easels 
among  the  polar  bears  and  icebergs  of  Alaska, 
and  painters  chased  by  great  snakes  under  the 
palm  trees  of  the  tropics  and  back  to  frost  again, 
all  of  which  was  described  by  the  droll  and  delib- 
erate Wildhack. 

Members  were  forced  to  do  their  special  stunts 
for  the  last  time  in  the  old  house.  Hy .  Mayer  gave 
a  new  and  most  amusing  performance,  a  lecture 
on  anatomy  in  wonderfully  musical  Italian,  im- 
personating an  Italian  professor,  with  the  help  of 
a  skeleton  and  a  set  of  colored  anatomical 
drawings. 

H.  C.  Edwards  was  dragged  out  to  give  "  Casey 
at  the  Bat"  for  the  last  time  under  the  old  sky- 
light, and  Leo  Mielziner,  the  chairman  of  the  en- 
tertainment committee,  had  to  do  "Barbara  Friet- 
chie  and  Stonewall  Jack  and  that  Onion  Flag." 

Between  leaving  the  old  club-house  and  enter- 
ing the  new  one,  there  was  a  period  of  two  winter 
months  during  which  the  Salmagundi  Club  was 
again  a  wanderer,  but  by  no  means  a  homeless 
wanderer,  for  the  ruddy  firelight  of  hospitality 
beckoned  its  members  to  the  open  doors  of  four 
brother-clubs,  the  Princeton  Club,  the  National 
Arts  Club,  the  Columbia  Club,  and  the  City 


C  131  3 


Club.  The  members  of  the  Salmagundi  Club, 
who  enjoyed  this  generous  hospitality  of  the 
above  four  clubs,  were  well  fed  and  well  enter- 
tained. They  sat  by  crackling  wood  fires  in  beau- 
tiful rooms  and  learned  something  of  the  mystery 
of  other  clubs. 

As  early  as  November  1  the  office  of  the  club 
was  set  up  in  the  new  house,  which  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  formal  act  of  taking  possession, 
while  the  work  of  construction  was  still  under 
way.  The  new  club-house  was  thrown  open  to  its 
members  just  in  time  to  celebrate  Christmas  and 
to  open  the  first  exhibition  of  the  year  in  the 
beautiful  new  gallery. 


THE  END 


APPENDIX 


House  Front,  47  Fifth  Avenue 


f 


APPENDIX 


In  1917  the  Salmagundi  Club  bought  the  house  at  47 
Fifth  Avenue,  which  stands  at  the  center  of  the  block 
between  Eleventh  and  Twelfth  Streets,  and  opposite 
to  the  Old  First  Presbyterian  Church.  This  house  was 
built  by  Irad  Hawley,  who  was  then  president  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Coal  Company  at  90  Broadway.  In  the 
New  York  City  Directory  for  1854-55,  Mr.  Hawley's 
residence  is  given  at  21  Rutgers  Place,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing directory  for  1855-56  he  is  in  his  new  house 
at  47  Fifth  Avenue.  From  these  dates  it  may  be  as- 
sumed that  the  house  was  built  in  1854. 

The  purchase  price  of  the  property  was  $75,000, 
and  instead  of  bonding  the  club,  a  large  sum  was 
raised  by  voluntary  contributions  from  the  "laymen" 
and  by  a  sale  at  auction  of  paintings  contributed  by 
artist  members.  The  cash  contributions  amounted 
to  $25,382  and  the  pictures  brought  $21,189,  provid- 
ing a  purchase  and  building  fund  of  $46,571. 

Extensive  repairs  were  undertaken,  including  new 
construction  on  the  entire  unoccupied  lot,  so  that, 
although  the  club  took  possession  on  the  1st  of  July, 
the  house  was  not  occupied  until  nearly  Christmas, 
while  work  on  the  interior  was  still  in  progress.  The 
general  plan  of  alteration  was  outlined  by  the  archi- 
tects who  were  members  of  the  club,  Messrs.  W.  G. 
Beatty,  Charles  W.  Buckham,  W.  J.  Beauley,  H.  Van 


C  136  3 


Buren  Magonigle,  J.  H.  Phillips,  Eugene  Schoen  and 
the  late  Goldwin  Starrett,  and  was  practically  carried 
out  by  the  building  committee,  of  which  Mr.  R.  F. 
Kilpatrick  was  chairman.  Mr.  Buckham  was  em- 
ployed as  the  building  architect.  Mr.  John  Ward 
Dunsmore  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  deco- 
ration, and  Mr.  Bruce  Crane  and  Mr.  Frank  Rogers 
were  members. 

The  house  at  14  West  Twelfth  Street  was  given  up 
on  the  1st  of  November  and  for  nearly  two  months 
the  club  was  without  a  home.  During  this  period  the 
hospitality  of  four  city  clubs,  the  National  Arts,  the 
Princeton,  the  Columbia,  and  the  City  Club,  was  ex- 
tended to  the  Salmagundi  Club.  Through  profes- 
sional associations,  and  on  account  of  convenience  of 
location,  the  National  Arts  Club  and  the  Princeton 
Club  were  most  frequented  by  the  Salmagundians 
during  the  homeless  period,  but  the  hospitality  of 
each  of  the  four  clubs  is  equally  and  very  gratefully 
acknowledged. 

On  the  occasion  of  entering  and  furnishing  the  new 
house  generous  contributions  were  made  by  members; 
such  as  a  bronze  chandelier  in  memory  of  the  late 
George  A.  Hearn  presented  by  Mr.  Clarkson  Cowl, 
Mr.  Donald  Cowl  and  Mr.  Herbert  S.  Greims;  a 
Stein  way  grand  piano,  by  Mr.  Montague  Glass;  a 
musical  hall  clock,  1696,  presented  by  Mr.  Joseph  Isi- 
dor  and  sisters,  and  repaired  with  contribution  from 
Mr.  J.  Sanford  Saltus  and  Mr.  W.  H.  Shelton.  A 


C  137  3 


colonial  sofa  was  presented  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Gibson;  two 
crystal  chandeliers  by  Mr.  George  A.  Zabriskie;  two 
bronze  candelabra  by  Mr.  Henry  T.  Thomas;  a  read- 
ing lamp  and  antique  copper  vessels  by  Mr.  Edwin  S. 
Chapin;  antique  arms  by  Mr.  Joseph  Isidor  and  Dr. 
Henry  S.  Oppenheimer;  library  tables  by  Mr.  W.  G. 
Beatty,  Dr.  Oppenheimer,  Mr.  David  B.  Carvalho, 
and  Mr.  Fred  E.  Dayton;  the  library  chairs  by  Mr. 
Charles  L.  Barstow;  a  figure  in  Wedgwood,  by  Mr. 
Timothy  F.  Crowley;  and  Windsor  chairs  and  tables 
by  Mr.  Samuel  T.  Shaw,  Mr.  Henry  H.  Cooke,  Mr. 
Charles  Mason  Fairbanks,  Mr.  Henry  Lang,  Mr.  A. 
H.  Sonn,  Mr.  M.  Saunders,  Mr.  R.  S.  Scarburgh,  Mr. 
Charles  Vezin,  Mr.  William  F.  Reeves,  Mr.  E.  Irving 
Couse,  Mr.  Leon  Gordon,  Mr.  H.  R.  Rittenburg,  Mr. 
Arthur  Litle,  Mr.  Arthur  E.  Powell,  Mr.  H.  S.  Greims, 
Mr.  John  E.  Starr,  Mr.  Walter  J.  Duncan,  Mr.  Alex- 
ander C.  Morgan,  Mr.  H.  A.  Lindsay,  Mr.  Fred  W. 
Hutchison,  Mr.  Henry  R.  Poore,  Mr.  Philip  F.  Timp- 
son,  and  Mr.  Eugene  Ullman. 


PRESIDENTS 
OF  THE  SALMAGUNDI  CLUB 


JOSEPH  HARTLEY   1871-1888 

GEORGE  W.  MAYNARD   1888-1889 

C.  Y.  TURNER   1889-1893 

THOMAS  MORAN   1893-1896 

W.  LEWIS  FRASER   1896-1897 

A.  T.  VAN  LAER   1897-1898 

ROBERT  MINOR   1898-1899 

A.  T.  VAN  LAER   1899-1900 

GEO.  H.  McCORD   1900-1901 

GEORGE  INNESS,  Jr   1901-1903 

J.  SCOTT  HARTLEY    .   1903-1905 

A.  T.  VAN  LAER   1905-1908 

HENRY  B.  SNELL   1908-1910 

F.  K.  M.  REHN  1910-1911 

CARLETON  WIGGINS  1911-1913 

CHARLES  VEZIN  1913-1914 

F.  BALLARD  WILLIAMS  1914-1917 


PRESENT  OFFICERS 
AND  COMMITTEES 


President 
F.  BALLARD  WILLIAMS 


Jst  Vice-President 
EMIL  CARLSEN 


%nd  Vice-President 
SAMUEL  T.  SHAW 


Corresponding  Secretary 


Recording  Secretary 


C.  M.  FAIRBANKS 


FRANCIS  G.  WICKWARE 


Treasurer 
R.  F.  KILPATRICK 


Art  Committee 
CHAIRMAN,  H.  B.  SNELL 
WALTER  BIGGS     ERNEST  D.  ROTH         R.  S.  BREDIN 
GEORGE  M.  BRUESTLE 


House  Committee 
CHAIRMAN,  FRED  E.  DAYTON 
JAMES  C.  ELMS      F.  W.  HUTCHISON     ARTHUR  LITLE 
C.  L.  BOONE 

Library  Committee 
CHAIRMAN,  ELIOT  CLARK 
TREASURER,  ALBERT  A.  SOUTHWICK 
J.  SANFORD  SALTUS  GALEN  J.  PERRETT 


Admissions  Committee 

chairman,  alexander  schilling 
w.  g.  beatty      w.  d.  paddock    howard  giles 
cullen  yates    c.  w.  buckham     w.  j.  aylward 
james  McGregor  smith     h.  a.  vincent 


Entertainment  Committee 
CHAIRMAN,  FELIX  LAMOND 


MONTAGUE  GLASS 
CLARKE  G.  DAILEY 


DAVID  ROBINSON 
J.  H.  GARDNER  SOPER 


WALTER  JACK  DUNCAN 


» 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abbey,  Edwin  A.,  at  the 
Tile  Club,  43;  reception  to,  55; 
an  honorary  member  of  the 
club,  57;  often  dropped  in  to 
see  us,  58;  his  method  of  work, 
59;  his  library  mug,  104;  guest 
at  the  Tile  Club  dinner,  121. 

Alexis,  Grand  Duke,  his 
passage  up  Broadway,  3. 

Andrews,  J.  P., painted  still- 
life  and  conch-shells  and  Eng- 
lish walnuts,  2. 

Ashleigh,  Rutherford,  re- 
cited at  "house  warming  to  ye 
profession  only,"  61. 

Aylward,  W.  J.,  member  of 
committee  on  admissions,  141. 

Baird,  William,  the  bari- 
tone of  the  Tile  Club,  122;  sings 
the  "Bedouin  Love  Song,"  123. 

Baker,  Charles,  speaker  at 
the  Nickel-in-the-Slot  dinner, 
71 ;  moves  a  vote  of  thanks,  76; 
marine  on  panel  by,  87. 

"Baker,  Old,"  assistant  to 
Andrew,  80. 

Barnard,  F.  E.,  illustrator 
of  Dickens  and  Thackeray,  54. 

Barstow,  Charles  L.,  li- 
brary chairs  the  gift  of,  137. 

Bartlett,  A.  H.,  at  dinner 
to  curators  and  directors,  127. 


Bartlett,  Fred,  speaker  at 
the  Nickel-in-the-Slot  dinner, 
71 ;  early  contributor  to  the  li- 
brary, 97. 

Beatty,  John  W.,  at  dinner 
to  curators  and  directors,  127. 

Beatty,  W.  G.,  one  of  the 
architects  who  planned  the 
alterations,  135;  library  table 
gift  of,  137;  member  of  com- 
mittee on  admissions,  141. 

Beauley,  W.  J.,  one  of  the 
architects  who  planned  the  al- 
terations, 135. 

Becks,  "Alf,"  young  Eng- 
lish actor,  4;  in  Low's  pic- 
ture, 8. 

Beckwith,  Carroll,  a  slen- 
der lad  from  Chicago,  8;  head 
by,  on  illuminated  title-page, 
111. 

Beer  introduced  in  the  club, 
25. 

Betts,  Craven  Lang- 
stroth,  motto  by,  for  chapter 
V,  74. 

Biggs,  Walter,  member  of 
art  committee,  141. 

Billings,  Dr.,  guest  at  the 
library  dinner,  106. 

Birney,  William  Ver- 
planck,  painted  panel  in  hall, 
87;  early  contributor  to  library, 


C  146  3 


97;  head  by,  on  illuminated 
title-page,  111. 

Bishop,  William  H.,  club 
illustrates  an  article  by,  33. 

Blackmore,  Arthur,  one  of 
the  designers  of  the  tiled  fire- 
place, 84. 

Blavatsky,  Madame,  flew 
away  to  India  with  a  member 
of  the  Tile  Club,  125. 

Blenner,  Carl  J.,  painted 
one  of  the  panels  in  the  hall, 
87. 

Boone,  C.  L.,  member  of 
house  committee,  141. 

Boughton,  George,  his  Tile 
Club  name  the  "Puritan,"  121; 
treatment  of  his  Tile  Club  seal, 
124. 

Bredln,  R.  S.,  member  of 
art  committee,  141. 

Brooke,  Richard  N.,  at 
dinner  to  curators  and  direc- 
tors, 127. 

Brown,  George  David,  of 
the  New  York  Herald,  5;  occu- 
pied studio  where  the  club  was 
born,  10. 

Brown,  Hugo,  first  steward 
of  the  club,  62;  had  seen  better 
days,  63;  commits  suicide,  64. 

Brown,  J.  G.,  made  honor- 
ary member  for  financial  as- 
sistance after  the  exhibition  of 
1879,  29;  head  by,  on  illumin- 
ated title-page,  111. 

Browne,  George  Elmer, 
designed  book-plate  of  club, 


103;  head  by,  on  illuminated 
title-page,  110. 

Bruestle,  George  M., 
member  of  art  committee,  141. 

Brush,  George  de  Forest, 
painter-guest  of  the  club,  115. 

Buckham,  Charles  W.,  one 
of  the  architects  who  planned 
the  alterations,  135;  employed 
as  the  building  architect,  136; 
member  of  committee  on  ad- 
missions, 141. 

Bunce,  Gedney,  one  of  the 
guests  at  the  Tile  Club  dinner, 
121. 

Bunce,  Mr.,  a  nervous  gen- 
tleman at  Appleton's,  12. 

Bunner,  Rudolph,  panel 
by,  88. 

Burns,  Milton  J.,  in  club 
picture,  8;  one  of  the  incorpo- 
rators, 20;  contestant  in  rapid 
chalk  drawing,  32. 

Cannon,  Legrand,  ap- 
proved of  the  canal-boat 
scheme,  65. 

Carlsen,  Emile,  still-life 
by,  came  to  the  club  through 
Inness  prize,  88 ;  first  vice- 
president  of  club,  141. 

Carrington,  J.  B.,  "Old 
friends  and  new  who  gather 
here,"  xii. 

Carvalho,  David  N.,  donor 
of  library  table,  137. 

Century  Company  asks  the 
club  to  make  a  new  cover  for 


C  147  3 


the  St.  Nicholas,  a  subject  for 
one  of  the  weekly  contests, 
33. 

Champney,  J.  Wells,  one  of 
the  incorporators  of  the  club, 
20;  at  the  Abbey  reception,  57. 

Chapin,  Edwin  S.,  reading 
lamp  and  copper  vessels  the 
gift  of,  137. 

Chase,  William  M.,  absent 
from  the  Tile  Club  dinner,  121. 

"Chris,"  the  German  jan- 
itor, at  896  Broadway,  24;  filled 
the  pots  with  beer,  25. 

Christopher,  Andrew,  a 
Swedish  sailor,  78;  given  leave 
of  absence  to  visit  Sweden,  81; 
"disappeared  over  the  rail  with 
his  dunnage,"  83. 

Church,  F.  S.,  original  mem- 
ber of  the  Sketch  Class,  2; 
comes  up  from  Harper's  with  a 
market-basket  full  of  blocks, 
13;  speaker  at  the  Nickel-in- 
the-Slot  dinner,  71;  head  by, 
on  illuminated  title-page,  111. 

City  Club,  the,  hospitality 
of,  to  the  Salmagundi  Club, 
130." 

Clark,  Eliot,  chairman  of 
library  committee,  141. 

Clark,  Walter,  one  of  the 
incorporators  of  the  club,  20. 

Clarke,  Sir  Casper  Pur- 
don,  a  dinner  given  to,  126; 
guest  at  the  dinner  to  curators 
and  directors,  127. 

Columbia  Club,  hospitality 


of,  to  the  Salmagundi  Club, 
130. 

Cooke,  Henry  H.,  gift  of 
chairs  from,  137. 

Cooper,  F.  G.,  gallery  deco- 
rated by,  128. 

Couse,  Irving,  a  panel  by, 
88;  gift  of  chairs  by,  137. 

Cowl,  Clarkson,  buys 
decorated  souvenir  of  dinner, 
85;  offers  prize  for  design  for 
club  book-plate,  103;  co-donor 
of  the  Hearn  chandelier,  136. 

Cowl,  Donald,  co-donor  of 
the  Hearn  chandelier,  136. 

Crabtree,  son  of  Lotta, 
visitor  at  early  meetings  of 
Sketch  Class,  6. 

Craig,  Thomas,  receives 
vote  of  thanks  for  services  in 
securing  Twelfth  Street  house, 
76;  painted  panel  in  hall,  87. 

Crane,  Bruce,  at  the  house 
warming  at  123  Fifth  Avenue, 
53;  helped  decorate  the  Twelfth 
Street  house,  81;  begins  his 
career  as  club  auctioneer,  85; 
panel  by,  88;  member  of  com- 
mittee on  decoration,  136. 

Crowley,  Timothy  F., 
Wedgwood  figure  gift  of,  137. 

Dailey,  Clarke  G.,  mem- 
ber of  entertainment  commit- 
tee, 141. 

Daugon,  Victor,  sang  at 
"house  warming  to  ye  profes- 
sion only,"  61. 


C  148  3 


Dayton,  Fred  E.,  donor  of 
library  table,  137 ;  chairman  of 
house  committee,  141. 

De  Haven,  Frank,  land- 
scape by,  comes  to  the  club 
through  Inness  prize,  88;  violin 
accompaniment  by,  127. 

Denslow,  W.  W.,  is  recog- 
nizable in  a  silk  hat,  8. 

Depew,  Chauncey,  had 
never  heard  of  the  Salmagundi 
Club,  65. 

Dessar,  Paul,  his  work  on 
tiled  fireplace,  84;  panel  by,  87. 

Dielman,  Frederick,  name 
appears  on  secretary's  report, 
December  30, 1876,  15;  elected 
a  member,  24;  his  Tile  Club 
name  the  "Terrapin,"  121. 

Dolph,  J.  H.,  speaker  at  the 
Nickel-in-the-Slot  dinner,  71; 
cat  on  panel  by,  87. 

Drake,  Alexander  W.,  at 
reception  at  123  Fifth  Avenue, 
53;  on  book-plate  committee, 
103;  his  brasses  at  the  library 
dinners,  113. 

Drake,  W.  H.,  member  of 
house  committee,  62;  speaker 
at  the  Nickel-in-the-Slot  din- 
ner, 71 ;  one  of  the  decorators  of 
the  Twelfth  Street  house,  81; 
his  work  on  tiled  fireplace,  84. 

Dressler,  E.  J.,  at  the 
Nickel-in-the-Slot  dinner,  71. 

Duncan,  Walter  J.,  gift  of 
chairs  from,  137;  member  of 
library  committee,  141. 


Dunleavy,  Alice,  early  con- 
tributor to  the  library,  96. 

Dunsmore,  John  Ward, 
chairman  of  the  committee  on 
decoration,  136. 

Durand,  E.  L. ,  at  the  Nickel- 
in-the-Slot  dinner,  72. 

Durkin,  John,  the  "all- 
'round  draughtsman " :  at  the 
house  warming  at  123  Fifth 
Avenue,  53;  as  the  dusky 
squaw  "Laughing  Bourbon," 
54;  in  the  old  Lotus  parlor,  69. 

Earle,  L.  C,  painted  a  panel 
in  the  hall,  87. 

Eaton,  Charles  Warren, 
painting  by,  came  to  the  club 
through  Inness  prize,  88. 

Eddy  brothers,  seance  in 
Eighth  Avenue,  36. 

Edwards,  H.  C,  head  by, 
on  illuminated  title-page,  111; 
gave  "Casey  at  the  Bat," 
130. 

Eight  ninety-six  Broadway, 
a  shabby  and  picturesque  old 
building,  14. 

Elms,  James  C,  member  of 
house  committee,  141. 

Emslie,  Alfred  E.,  original 
member  of  Sketch  Class,  2. 

Etching  Club,  drank  whis- 
key and  ginger  ale,  24. 

Evans,  De  Scott,  at  the 
Nickel-in-the-Slot  dinner,  71; 
painted  one  of  the  panels  in  the 
hall,  87. 


C  149  3 


Evans,  William  T.,  speaker 
at  the  Nickel-in-the-Slot  din- 
ner, 71. 

Fairbanks,  Charles  Ma- 
son, gift  of  chairs  by,  137;  cor- 
responding secretary,  141. 

Fildes,  Luke,  illustrator  on 
the  London  Graphic,  47. 

Fisk,  Colonel  Jim,  at  the 
head  of  the  Ninth  Regiment,  4. 

Fitler,  William  C,  at  the 
Nickel-in-the-Slot  dinner,  71; 
landscape  by,  86;  painted  panel 
in  hall,  87. 

Fowler,  Frank,  favorite 
tenor  in  the  Salmagundi  Glee 
Club,  33. 

Fowler,  Mr.,  owner  or 
agent  of  the  building,  596 
Broadway,  9. 

Fox,  George,  played  Hump- 
ty  Dumpty  at  the  Globe  The- 
ater, 11. 

Fraser,  W.  Lewis,  at  the 
house  warming  at  123  Fifth 
Avenue,  53;  speaker  at  the 
Nickel-in-the-Slot  Dinner,  71; 
on  the  committee  that  found 
the  Twelfth  Street  house,  75; 
established  the  "Hungry  Joe," 
89;^head  of,  on  the  presidential 
pitcher,  119;  president  of  club, 
1896-1897,  139. 

Frost,  A.  B.,  joined  the  club 
in  January,  1877,  28;  "dropped 
to  go  to  England,"  29;  his  Tile 
Club  name  the  "Icicle,"  121. 


Frye,  Roger  E.,  guest  at 
the  Clarke  dinner,  126. 

Fuerdent,  M.  Gaston,  who 
had  just  attacked  the  Di  Ces- 
nola  collection  at  the  Metro- 
politan Museum,  leads  the 
quartette  at  club  reception,  32. 

Gaul,  Gilbert,  name  first 
appears,  21. 

Gibson,  Hamilton,  early 
contributor  to  the  library,  98. 

Gibson,  W.  H.,  a  colonial 
sofa  the  gift  of,  137. 

Gifford,  Swain,  his  Tile 
Club  name  the  "Griffin,"  121. 

Giles,  Howard,  member  of 
admissions  committee,  141. 

Glass,  Montague,  Stein- 
way  grand  piano  a  gift  from, 
136;  member  of  entertainment 
committee,  141. 

Goelet's,  Peter,  house  at 
the  corner  of  Nineteenth  Street, 
15. 

Goodwin,  Cheever,  on  com- 
mittee that  found  Twelfth 
Street  house,  75. 

Gordon,  Leon,  gift  of  chairs 
by,  137. 

Graham,  Charles,  name 
first  appears,  22 ;  at  house 
warming  at  123  Fifth  Avenue, 
53;  as  Chief  "Not  Afraid  of  Fire 
Water,"  54;  in  the  old  Lotus 
parlor,  69;  bells  on  his  legs,  70. 

Grant,  Gordon,  head  by, 
on  illuminated  title-page,  111. 


C  150  1 


Green,  C,  illustrator  on  the 
London  Graphic,  47. 

Green,  Frank,  invitation  to 
house  warming  by,  61;  helped 
decorate  Twelfth  Street  house, 
81;  horse  and  cart  by,  86; 
painted  one  of  the  panels  in 
hall,  87 ;  head  by,  on  illuminated 
title-page,  111. 

Gregory,  Frank  M.,  of  the 
Punch  and  Judy  show,  31;  his 
studio  the  meeting-place  of  the 
club,  43. 

Greims,  Herbert  Spencer, 
co-donor  of  the  Hearn  chande- 
lier, 136;  gift  of  chairs  from, 
137. 

Groll,  Albert,  marine  by, 
came  to  the  club  through  Mor- 
gan prize,  89;  performs  the 
"Grasshopper  Dance,"  127. 

"  Gundy,"  the  cat,  128. 

Harris,  Charles,  sings  in 
the  quartette  at  club  reception, 
32. 

Hartley,  John,  who  led  in 
the  boxing,  2;  setting  the  table, 
8. 

Hartley,  Jonathan  Scott, 
first  meeting  of  club  in  the 
studio  of,  1;  preparing  the  sau- 
sages, 7;  goes  abroad,  14;  re- 
turns to  New  York,  15;  sug- 
gests name  of  the  club,  16;  one 
of  the  incorporators,  20;  pro- 
poses to  expose  the  Eddy  broth- 
ers, 36;  makes  a  dive  under  the 


curtain,  39;  at  the  Nickel-in- 
the-Slot  dinner,  71;  early  con- 
tributor to  library,  97;  presided 
at  the  Tile  Club  dinner,  122; 
president  of  club,  1903-1905, 
139. 

Hartley,  Joseph,  secretary 
as  well  as  chairman,  3;  one  of 
the  incorporators  of  the  club, 
20;  becomes  president  of  the 
club,  20;  treasurer  of  the  club 
at  time  of  removal  to  Twelfth 
Street,  74;  was  empowered  to 
engage  Mr.  Andrew  Christopher 
and  wife,  78;  directed  to  issue 
bonds,  81 ;  head  of,  on  the  presi- 
dential pitcher,  119. 

Hawley,  Irad,  who  built 
the  house  47  Fifth  Avenue,  135. 

Hays,  William  J.,  head  by, 
on  illuminated  title-page,  111. 

Hearn,  George  A.,  sends  in 
a  bid  for  the  Abbey  mug,  105; 
a  bronze  chandelier  in  memory 
of,  136. 

Henry,  E.  L.,  head  by,  on 
illuminated  title-page,  111. 

Herkomer,  Hubert,  illustra- 
tor on  the  London  Graphic,  47. 

Heywood,  John  G.,  at  din- 
ner to  curators  and  directors, 
127. 

Hirschberg,  Carl,  meetings 
of  club  held  in  the  studio  of,  23. 

Holl,  Frank,  illustrator  on 
the  London  Graphic,  47. 

Houghton,  A.  B.,  illustrator 
on  the  London  Graphic,  47. 


C  151  J 


Houghton  Mifflin  Com- 
pany, makers  of  the  Tile  Club 
book, "the  marvel  of  its  time," 
122. 

Howe,  William  H.,  painted 
a  panel  in  the  hall,  87. 

Huffington,  rents  room  to 
club,  24. 

"Hungry  Joe,  The,"  a 
weekly  supper,  89. 

Hutchison,  Fred  W.,  gift 
of  chairs  from,  137;  member  of 
house  committee,  141. 

Ince,  John  E.,  recited  at 
"house  warming  to  ye  profes- 
sion only,"  61. 

Inness,  George,  disposed  to 
look  leniently  on  the  super- 
natural, 36;  illustrated  invita- 
tion, to,  41. 

Inness,  George,  Jr.,  one  of 
the  incorporators  of  the  club, 
20;  panel  by,  88;  gives  a  prize, 
the  picture  to  go  to  the  club, 
88;  president  of  club,  1901- 
1903,  139. 

Isidor,  Joseph,  and  sisters, 
gift  of  hall  clock,  136;  gift  of 
antique  arms,  137. 

Johnston,  John  Taylor, 
sends  check  to  help  pay  deficit 
on  third  black-and-white  ex- 
hibition, 35. 

Jones,  Bolton,  painted  one 
of  the  panels  in  the  hall, 
87. 


Jones,  Frank,  painted  one 
of  the  panels  in  the  hall,  87. 

Josephi,  I.  H.,  his  work  on 
tiled  fireplace,  84;  miniature 
by,  88. 

Keller,  Arthur  I.,  interior 
by,  came  to  the  club  through 
the  Morgan  prize,  89. 

Kelly,  Edgar  S.,  gives 
piano  solo  at  Abbey  reception, 
56. 

Kelly,  James,  opposed  to 
introducing  beer,  25. 

Kemble,  E.  W.,  young 
brave  "Dancing  Bull,"  54; 
recitation  by,  56;  acted  as 
monkey,  57;  in  the  old  Lotus 
parlor,  69. 

Kerr,  George  F.,  at  the 
Nickel-in-the-Slot  dinner,  71. 

Kilpatrick,  R.  F.,  chair- 
man of  the  building  committee, 
136;  treasurer  of  club,  141. 

Kirkman,  Alec,  present  at 
the  early  meetings,  2. 

Kline,  William  Fair,  li- 
brary mug  by,  brings  one 
thousand  and  one  dollars, 
108. 

Knaus,  Antonio,  one  of  the 
musicians  of  the  Tile  Club, 
122. 

Kobbe,  Gustav,  painist  of 
the  Tile  Club,  122. 

Kurtz,  Charles  N.,  at  din- 
ner to  curators  and  directors, 
127. 


C  152  3 


La  Farge,  John,  selections 
from  the  library  of,  111. 

Laffan,  William  M.,  his 
Tile  Club  name  "Polyphemus," 

m. 

Lamond,  Felix,  leads  in  the 
boy-choir  of  Trinity  Chapel, 
126;  chairman  of  entertain- 
ment committee,  141. 

Lane,  John,  "a  mysterious 
and  forbidding-looking  party," 
8. 

Lang,  Henry,  gift  of  chairs 
by,  137. 

Lanthier,  Mr.,  part  of  a 
house  in  Tenth  Street  lately 
occupied  by,  considered  by 
site  committee,  75. 

Larousse  spells  the  word 
"Salmigondis,"  20. 

Lauber,  "the  Secretary's" 
name  first  appears,  21;  at  the 
house  warming  at  123  Fifth 
Avenue,  53. 

Lawrence,  Mr.,  president 
of  the  Lotus  Club,  at  Nickel- 
in-the-Slot  dinner,  70. 

Leavitt  Galleries,  817 
Broadway,  picture  auction 
mart  of  that  day,  27;  first  club 
sale  at,  28. 

Lee,  Homer,  panel  by,  88. 

Levy,  Herbert,  on  com- 
mittee that  found  Twelfth 
Street  house,  75. 

Lewenberg,  Dr.,  violinist 
of  the  Tile  Club,  122;  plays  a 
cradle  song,  123. 


Library  mugs,  the,  begin- 
ning of  the  custom,  101. 

Lindsay,  H.  A.,  gift  of  chairs 
from,  137. 

Linson,  Corwin  Knapp,  li- 
brary mug  by,  brings  two  hun- 
dred and  two  dollars,  104. 

Litle,  Arthur,  gift  of  chairs 
from,  137;  member  of  house 
committee,  141. 

LooMis,  Charles  Battell, 
recited  at  "house  warming  to 
ye  profession  only,"  61. 

Lotus  Club,  the,  in  its  old 
quarters  at  Twenty-second 
Street  and  Fifth  Avenue,  68. 

Low,  Will  H. ,  original  mem- 
ber of  the  Sketch  Class,  2;  pic- 
ture of  the  class  made  by,  7; 
reports  events  of  which  he  had 
been  a  witness,  12. 

McCord,  George  H.,  at  the 
Nickel-in-the-Slot  dinner,  71; 
painted  panel  in  hall,  87 ;  presi- 
dent of  the  club,  1900-1901, 
139. 

Magonigle,  H.  Van  Bur  en, 
one  of  the  architects  who 
planned  the  alterations,  1S6. 

Marble,  J.  N.,  painted  panel 
in  hall,  87. 

Marshall,  the  engraver,  6. 

Maurer,  Alfred  H.,  pic- 
ture, lady  drinking  tea,  came 
to  the  club  through  Inness 
prize,  88. 

Mayer,  Hy.,  head  by,  on  il- 


[  153  3 


luminated  title-page,  111;  gave 
a  lecture  on  anatomy,  130. 

Maynard,  George  W.,  pro- 
posed for  membership,  21 ;  club 
night  changed  from  Saturday 
to  Friday  on  account  of,  26; 
president  of  the  club,  53;  head 
by,  on  illuminated  title-page, 
111;  head  of,  on  the  presiden- 
tial pitcher,  119;  his  Tile  Club 
name  the  "Hawk,"  122;  presi- 
dent of  club,  1888-1889,  139. 

Mehl,  Emil,  succeeds  An- 
drew Christopher  as  steward, 
83. 

n  Mielziner,  Leo,  " had  to  do 
/  Barbara  Frietchie  and  Stone- 
wall Jack,  and  that  Onion 
Flag,"  130. 

Millet,  Frank,  guest  at  the 
Tile  Club  dinner,  121. 

Minor,  Robert  C,  rents 
part  of  studio  to  club,  34;  re- 
cording secretary  at  time  of 
removal  to  Twelfth  Street,  74; 
painted  one  of  the  panels  in 
the  hall,  87;  presided  at  the 
presidential  dinner,  119;  his 
speech,  120;  president  of  club, 
1898-1899,  139. 

Mitchill,  Bleecker,  occu- 
pied studio  with  Reinhart  and 
Abbey,  58. 

Moore,  Thomas,  his  "Sal- 
magundian  Hymn,"  17. 

Mora,  F.  Luis,  panel  by, 
"Summer,"  for  "Red  Room," 
93;  library  mug  by,  brings  five 


hundred  and  five  dollars,  105; 
head  by,  on  illuminated  title- 
page,  110. 

Moran,  Paul,  painted  panel 
in  hall,  87. 

Moran,  Thomas,  his  imita- 
tion Turner,  56;  president  of 
the  club,  presided  at  Nickel- 
in-the-Slot  dinner,  71;  head  of, 
on  the  presidential  pitcher,  119; 
president  of  club,  1893-1896, 
139. 

Morgan,  A.  C,  one  of  the 
incorporators  of  the  club,  20; 
his  amusing  treatment  of  the 
subject  "The  End,"  27;  sings 
in  the  Glee  Club,  32;  issues  a 
circular  as  treasurer,  45;  panel 
by,  88;  gives  prize,  the  picture 
to  go  to  the  club,  88 ;  early  con- 
tributor to  library,  97;  gift  of 
chairs  from,  137. 

Morgan,  Herbert,  painted 
one  of  the  hall  panels,  87. 

Morris,  Fellx,  recited  at 
the  Nickel-in-the-Slot  dinner, 
71. 

Mosler,  Henry,  painted 
panel  in  hall,  87. 

Murphy,  J.  Francis,  one  of 
the  incorporators  of  the  club, 
20;  contestant  in  rapid  chalk 
drawing,  32;  at  the  Nickel-in- 
the-Slot  dinner,  71;  painter  of 
one  of  the  hall  panels,  87. 

Museum,  Metropolitan, 
asks  the  club  to  decorate  one 
of  its  rooms,  33. 


Naegele,  Charles  Freder- 
ick, painted  one  of  the  panels 
in  hall,  87;  his  handling  of  the 
library,  107. 

National  Arts  Club,  hos- 
pitality of,  to  the  Salmagundi 
Club,  130. 

Niblo's  Garden,  destroyed 
by  fire,  10. 

Nichols,  H.  C,  a  panel  by, 
88. 

Nicholls,  Rhoda  Holmes, 
early  contributor  to  the  library, 
98. 

Ochtman,  Leonard,  land- 
scape by,  came  to  the  club  from 
Morgan  prize,  89. 

O'Donovan,  the  sculptor, 
present  at  the  early  meetings 
of  Sketch  Class,  6. 

Ogden,  Harry,  name  ap- 
pears in  early  records,  21. 

Oliphant,  Mr.,  president  of 
the  Delaware  and  Hudson 
Canal  Company,  approved  of 
the  canal-boat  project,  65. 

Oppenheemer,  Dr.  Henry 
S.,  second  librarian  of  club, 
107;  library  table  and  antique 
arms  gift  of,  137. 

Osborne,  Charles,  one  of 
the  incorporators  of  the  club, 
20;  sings  in  Glee  Club,  32; 
"deep,  deep  bass"  of  club 
quartette,  33. 

Osborne,  Sidney,  one  of  the 
incorporators  of  the  club,  20. 


OSTRANDER,    WlLLIAM  C, 

one  of  the  designers  of  the  tiled 
fireplace,  84;  floral  panel  by, 
88;  head  by,  on  illuminated 
title-page,  111. 

Paddock,  W.  D.,  member  of 
admissions  committee,  141. 

Parsons,  Alfred,  his  Tile 
Club  name  the  "Englishman," 
121. 

Parsons,  Charles,  head  of 
the  art  department  at  Harper's, 
11. 

Pastor's,  Tony,  was  just 
'round  the  corner,  11. 

Paton,  William,  Tile  Club 
name  "Haggis,"  121. 

Pelham,  Walter,  of  the 
Savage  Club,  London,  54. 

Pepper,  Harry,  sang  at 
"house  warming  to  ye  profes- 
sion only,"  61. 

Perrett,  Galen  J.,  mem- 
ber of  library  committee,  141. 

Perry,  of  "Scribner's,"  at 
house  warming,  53. 

Perry,  Raymond,  the  fifth 
librarian,  107. 

Pfister,  Eugene,  present  at 
early  meetings  of  SketchClass,  6. 

Phillips,  J.  H.,  one  of  the 
architects  who  planned  the 
alterations,  136. 

Piggot,  George  W.,  assists 
at  Punch  and  Judy  show,  31. 

Pollock,  Hugo,  steward  ^of 
the  club  for  fifteen  years,  118. 


C  155  3 


Poore,  Henry  R.,  gift  of 
chairs  from,  137. 

Pothast,  Edward,  a  panel 
by,  88. 

Powell,  Arthur  E.,  gift  of 
chairs  from,  137. 

Preyer,  "little,"  German 
still-life  painter,  27. 

Princeton  Club,  the,  hos- 
pitality of,  to  the  Salmagundi 
Club,  130. 

Proctor,  Charles  E.,  mem- 
ber of  the  house  committee, 
62;  at  the  Nickel-in-the-Slot 
dinner,  71;  helped  decorate 
Twelfth  Street  house,  81; 
painted  panel  in  hall,  87;  early 
contributor  to  library,  97. 

Punch  and  Judy  window  at 
896  Broadway,  31;  first  black 
and  white  exhibition  came 
through,  32. 

Pyle,  Howard,  name  first 
appears,  21;  usually  too  busy 
to  attend  the  meetings,  26;  li- 
brary mug  by,  in  1902  sells  for 
one  hundred  dollars,  104;  in 
1906  for  two  hundred  and  sixty 
dollars,  105. 

Quartley,  Arthur,  in  a 
Japanese  grass  skull-cap,  43; 
his  Tile  Club  name  the  "Ma- 
rine," 121. 

Rabelais   uses   the  word 
"Salmagundin,"  17. 
Ranger,  Henry  W.,  advo- 


cated keeping  the  club  bohe- 
mian,  50;  master  of  ceremonies 
at  house  warming,  123  Fifth 
Avenue,  51;  proposes  to  bring 
a  discontented  element  in  the 
Lotus  Club  to  the  Salmagundi, 
68;  master  of  ceremonies  at  the 
Lotus  Club,  69. 

Ream,  Vinnie,  models  a 
bust  of  Peter  Cooper,  13. 

Redmond,  J.  J.,  his  work  on 
tiled  fireplace,  84. 

Reeves,  William  F.,  gift 
of  chairs  from,  137. 

Reevs,  George  M.,  panel, 
"Autumn  "  by,  for  Red  Room, 
93. 

Rehn,  F.  K.  M.,  made  the 
first  purchase  of  furniture,  60; 
painted  one  of  the  panels  in  the 
hall,  87 ;  library  mug  by,  brings 
five  hundred  and  fifty-five  dol- 
lars, 106;  president  of  club, 
1910-1911,  139. 

Relnhart,  Stanley,  at  the 
Abbey  reception,  55;  his  Tile 
Club  name  "Sirius,"  122. 

Ritchie,  G.  W.  H.,  "the* 
steel  engraver  and  chief  wit  of 
the  club,"  53. 

Ritschel,  William,  library 
mug  by,  brings  one  hundred 
and  eighty  dollars,  104. 

RlTTENBURG,  H.  R.,  gift  of 

chairs  from,  137. 

Rix,  Julian,  landscape  panel 
by,  87. 

Robinson,  David,  member 


I  156  ] 


of  entertainment  committee, 
141. 

Robinson,  Edward,  guest 
at  the  Clarke  dinner,  126. 

Robinson,  Theodore,  at 
the  Sarony  receptions,  43. 

Rogers,  Frank,  member  of 
the  committee  on  decoration, 
136. 

Rogers  groups,  75. 

Rogers,  John,  Twelfth 
Street  house  his  city  home,  75 ; 
wished  to  retire  to  New  Ca- 
naan, 72. 

Rogers,  W.  A.,  name  first 
appears,  21. 

Roth,  Ernest  D.,  member 
of  art  committee,  141. 

Round,  William  F.,  con- 
tributed first  book  to  library, 
96. 

Rowe,  George  Fawcett, 
at  the  house  warming  at  123 
Fifth  Avenue,  53. 

Ruth rauff,  C.  C,  speaker 
at  the  Nickel-in-the-Slot  din- 
ner, 71. 

Saint-Gaudens,  Augustus, 
his  Tile  Club  name  the  "Saint," 
121. 

St.  John,  J.  Allen,  panel 
"Spring"  for  Red  Room  by, 
93. 

"Salmagundi,  or  Whim- 
whams  and  Opinions  of  Launce- 
lot  Longstaff ,  Esq.,  and  others," 
16;  in  Rabelais,  "Salmagun- 


din,"  17;  Moore's  "Hymn"  to, 
17;  letter  of  the  late  Russell 
Sturgis  on,  19;  spelled  "Salmi- 
gondis"  by  Larousse,  20. 

Salmagundi  Club,  born  at 
596  Broadway,  1;  membership 
limited  to  twenty,  and  name 
adopted  January,  1877,  was  the 
"Salmagundi  Sketch  Club," 
16;  incorporators  of,  20;  a  con- 
stant shifting  of  membership, 
21;  reorganization  of,  23;  re- 
moves to  1  Union  Square,  24; 
admits  beer,  25;  moves  to 
Science  Hall  and  changes  meet- 
ing night,  26;  list  of  members, 
28;  one  of  the  curious  customs 
of,  29;  returns  to  896  Broad- 
way, 31;  moves  into  part  of 
Robert  Minor's  studio,  34; 
takes  to  meeting  at  members' 
studios,  35;  receptions  at  Sa- 
rony's,  41;  its  fourth  exhibition 
in  black  and  white  a  success, 
43;  meetings  in  the  Benedict, 
43;  exhibition  of  1880  especially 
interesting,  47;  moves  to  123 
Fifth  Avenue,  50;  opening  of 
the  new  quarters,  51;  moves  to 
121  Fifth  Avenue,  54;  reception 
to  Ned  Abbey,  55;  moves  to  49 
West  Twenty-second  Street, 
60;  moves  to  40  West  Twenty- 
second  Street,  63;  the  Nickel- 
in-the-Slot  dinner,  70;  moves 
to  14  West  Twelfth  Street,  74; 
opens  a  grill-room,  92;  its  li- 
brary, 95 ;  gives  a  dinner  to  the 


C  157  1 


Tile  Club,  120;  moves  to  47 
Fifth  Avenue,  131. 

Saltus,  J.  Sanford,  his  ac- 
tivity in  the  library  begins,  98; 
his  method  of  buying  mugs 
when  abroad,  105;  buys  library 
mug  for  one  thousand  and  one 
dollars,  108;  has  contributed 
more  than  half  the  library,  109; 
fashion  plates  secured  abroad 
by,  110;  his  Louis  XVI  collec- 
tion, 111;  head  by,  on  illumi- 
nated title-page,  111;  contrib- 
utes to  repairing  clock,  136; 
member  of  library  committee, 
141. 

Sandor,  M.,  head  by,  on 
illuminated  title-page,  110. 

Sarony,  Napoleon,  con- 
testant in  rapid  chalk  drawing, 
32;  his  photograph  gallery  in 
Union  Square,  41 ;  his  departure 
through  the  window,  42;  his 
Tile  Club  name  the  "Bird  of 
Freedom,"  121. 

Saunders,  M.,  gift  of  chairs 
from,  137. 

Sawyer,  Wallace,  piano 
solo  by,  at  Abbey  reception, 
56. 

SCARBURGH,  R.    S.,   gift  of 

chairs  from,  137. 

Schell,  F.  B.,  early  con- 
tributor to  the  library,  97. 

Schilling,  Alexander, 
grinds  the  organ  at  Abbey  re- 
ception, 56;  chairman  of  ad- 
missions committee,  141. 


Schneider,  W.  A.,  head  by, 
on  illuminated  title-page,  111. 

Schoen,  Eugene,  one  of  the 
architects  who  planned  the 
alterations,  136. 

Science  Hall,  permanent 
quarters  in  1878,  26;  first  exhi- 
bition of  drawings  made  from, 
27. 

Sedelmayer,  manager,  of- 
fers space  behind  the  curtain 
for  meeting-place  of  club,  50. 

Share,  H.  P.,  sits  on  the 
turn-table,  8;  one  of  the  in- 
corporators of  the  club,  20; 
contestant  in  rapid  chalk  draw- 
ing, 32;  heads  by,  on  presiden- 
tial pitcher,  119. 

Shaw,  Samuel  T.,  chairman 
of  the  house  committee,  estab- 
lished a  cocktail  closet,  86;  his 
annual  dinner,  117;  gift  of 
chairs  from,  137;  second  vice- 
president  of  club,  141. 

Shelton,  William  H.,  orig- 
inal member  of  the  Sketch 
Class,  2;  sits  astride  a  chair,  8; 
one  of  the  incorporators  of  the 
club,  20;  a  travesty  on  the 
"Angelus"  by,  56;  suggests 
building  the  Seneca  Chief,  67; 
painted  panel  in  hall,  87; 
"Shel  ton's  folly,"  91;  issues 
circular  as  librarian,  96;  is  made 
a  real  librarian  and  plans  the 
sale  of  library  mugs,  101;  con- 
tributes to  repairing  clock, 
136. 


C  158  ] 


Shirlaw,  Walter,  name 
first  appears,  21;  made  honor- 
ary member  of  the  club  for 
loan  of  cartoons,  29;  guest  of 
honor  at  library  dinner,  103; 
head  by,  on  illuminated  title- 
page,  111. 

Shurtleff,  R.  M.,  on  com- 
mittee that  found  Twelfth 
Street  house,  75;  painted  one 
of  the  panels  in  the  hall,  87. 

Sketch  Class,  first  meeting, 
1;  original  members,  2;  fre- 
quenters, 3;  ambition  of  its 
members,  11;  suspended  after 
second  winter,  14;  second  home 
of,  15. 

Slavlnski,  Josef,  the  Polish 
pianist,  reception  to,  68. 

Smith,  De  Cost,  painted 
one  of  the  panels  in  the  hall, 
87. 

Smith,  F.  Hopkinson,  pro- 
posed for  membership,  21;  his 
attitude  in  the  Water-Color 
Society,  22;  his  original  story 
of  Colonel  Carter,  42;  at  Abbey 
reception,  55;  guest  at  the  Tile 
Club  dinner  121. 

Smith,  H.  P.,  announces  a 
dinner,  62;  painted  a  panel  in 
the  hall,  87. 

Smith,  James  McGregor, 
member  of  admissions  commit- 
tee, 141. 

Snell,  Henry  B.,  president 
of  club,  1908-1910,  139;  chair- 
man of  art  committee,  141. 


Sonn,  A.  H.,  gift  of  chairs 
by,  137. 

Soper,  J.  H.  Gardner,  mem- 
ber of  the  entertainment  com- 
mittee, 141. 

Southwick,  Albert  A.,  the 
third  librarian,  107;  treasurer 
of  library  committee,  141. 

Starr,  John  E.,  gift  of  chairs 
from,  137. 

Starrett,  Goldwtn,  one  of 
the  architects  who  planned  the 
alterations,  136. 

Steele,  of  Hartford,  speaker 
at  the  Nickel-in-the-Slot  din- 
ner, 71. 

Stivers,  Captain,  at  the 
Nickel-in-the-Slot  dinner,  71. 

Strahan,  Tile  Club  name 
the  "Bone,"  121. 

Sturgis,  Russell,  letter 
from,  on  word  "Salmagundi," 
19. 

Symington,  James,  head 
by,  on  illuminated  title-page, 
110. 

Symons,  Will,  present  at 
the  early  meetings  of  Sketch 
Class,  2. 

Taber,  I.  W.,  name  first  ap- 
pears, 21. 

Taylor,  C.  Jay,  of  Puck,  at 
house  warming,  at  123  Fifth 
Avenue,  53. 

Taylor,  George  M.,  as 
chairman  of  house  committee, 
established  the  office,  92. 


C  159  H 


Thomas,  E.  A.,  arranges 
Case  C,  illustrating  lithog- 
raphy, 47. 

Thomas,  Henry  T.,  bronze 
candelabra  the  gift  of,  137. 

Thompson,  Joseph  A.,  at 
the  Nickel-in-the-Slot  dinner, 
71;  on  committee  that  found 
Twelfth  Street  house,  75;  as 
corresponding  secretary  rented 
room  from  club,  79;  issues  cir- 
cular for  loan,  81. 

Thtjlstrup,  T.  de,  name 
first  appears,  21;  "the  soldier 
draughtsman"  at  the  house 
warming  at  123  Fifth  Avenue, 
53. 

Tiffany,  Louis  C,  a  dinner 
given  to,  126. 

Tile  Club  at  Sarony's,  41; 
dinner  to,  120. 

Timpson,  Philip  F.,  gift  of 
chairs  from,  137. 

Trask,  John  E.  D.,  at  dinner 
to  curators  and  directors,  127. 

Truslow,  Tile  Club  name 
the  "Boarder,"  121. 

Turner,  C.  Y.,  joined  class 
second  winter,  8;  meetings  held 
in  studio  of,  23;  head  of,  on  the 
presidential  pitcher,  119;  presi- 
dent of  the  club,  1889-1893, 
139. 

Tuttle,  Franklin,  early 
contributor  to  the  library, 
98. 

Tyler,  James,  painted  panel 
in  hall,  87. 


Ullman,  Eugene,  gift  of 
chairs  from,  137. 

Vance,  Fred,  original  mem- 
ber of  the  Sketch  Class,  2;  died 
in  the  Soldier's  Home  at  Bath, 
N.Y.,  23. 

Van  Laer,  A.  T.,  speaker  at 
the  Nickel-in-the-Slot  dinner, 
71;  did  Dutch  landscape  on 
tiled  fireplace,  84;  painted 
panel  in  hall,  87;  head  on  the 
presidential  pitcher,  119;  presi- 
dent of  club,  1897-1898,  1899- 
1900,  1905-1908,  139. 

Vedder,  Elihu,  Tile  Club 
name  the  "Pagan,"  121. 

Vezin,  Charles,  buys  first 
choice  of  library  mugs  for  one 
hundred  dollars,  108;  gift  of 
chairs  from,  137;  president  of 
club,  1913-1914,  139.  # 

Vincent,  H.  A.,  member  of 
admissions  committee,  141. 

Volkmar,  Charles,  gives 
lessons  in  etching,  34;  arranges 
Case  B  of  etching  tools,  47; 
directs  execution  of  Limoges 
fireplace,  48;  the  potter  of  the 
club,  84. 

Von  Gottschalck,  O.  H.,  at 
the  Nickel-in-the-Slot  dinner, 
71. 

Walker,  Charles,  of  the 
Boston  Art  Club,  71. 

Wallace,  Frank,  directed 
improvements  in  club  house,  94. 


C  160  ] 


Waltman,  H.  M.,  panel  by, 
88. 

Ward,  "  Ferd,"  who  wrecked 
the  fortune  of  General  Grant,  6. 

Ward,  Will,  present  at  early 
meetings  of  Sketch  Class,  6. 

Watts,  John,  a  son  of  Mrs. 
Sefton,  9. 

Weir,  J.  Alden,  painter- 
guest  of  the  club,  115;  his  Tile 
Club  name  "Cadmium,"  121. 

Weldon,  C.  D.,  name  first 
appears,  21;  draughtsman  on 
London  Graphic,  29. 

White,  Dr.,  of  the  Berkeley 
Lyceum,  offers  hall  for  meet- 
ing-place of  the  club,  50. 

White,  Stanford,  not  an 
artist,  22;  his  Tile  Club  name 
the  "Builder,"  121. 

Whitehorn,  Mr.,  noted  for 
his  gallantries,  8. 

Wickware,  Francis  G.,  re- 
cording secretary  of  the  club, 
141. 

Wiggins,  Carleton,  presi- 
dent of  the  club,  1911-1913, 
139. 

Wildhack,  Robert  J.,  "All 
of  which  was  described  by,"  130. 

"Wild  Oats,"  in  Ann  Street, 
Shelton's  first  success  on,  12. 


Wilkes,  Miss  Annie,  skirt 
dancer  and  high  kicker,  at 
Zorn  reception,  68.  • 

Williams,  Ballard,  library 
mug  by,  brings  six  hundred  and 
sixty-two  dollars,  106;  presi- 
dent of  the  club,  1914-1917, 
139. 

Willing,  Thomson,  letter- 
ing on  tiled  fireplace  by,  85; 
panel  by,  88;  decoration  of  Red 
Room  by,  94;  on  book-plate 
committee,  103;  designed  title- 
page  for  Costumes  of  the  Nine- 
teenth Century,  110. 

Wolcott,  H.  M.,  sketch  by, 
23. 

Yates  Cullen,  member  of 
admissions  committee,  141. 

Yeto,  Genjiro,  panel  by, 
"Winter,"  in  Red  Room,  93; 
head  by,  on  illuminated  title- 
page,  111. 

Zabriskie,  George  A.,  two 
crystal  chandeliers  the  gift  of, 
137. 

Zogbaum  Rufus,  name  ap- 
pears in  early  records,  21. 

Zorn,  Andres,  reception 
to,  68. 


Five  hundred  copies  printed  at  The  Riverside 
Press,  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  in  December, 
1918.  This  is  No. 


r 


&4~6H59  3 


GETTY  CENTER  LIBRARY 


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